Never Let Go
by TheDarkestAngel2000
Summary: The old tale of Beauty and The Once-ler. Melina was an Immortal, a respectable girl known throughout all the world, until she was condemned and became Mortal. With her only option to move forward, she comes along a charming boy named Once-ler. His tale has more to it than first told, a Whole lot More.
1. Chapter 1

Writers Note: This is what I've got. Don't judge me. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Melina Dustarn

He held onto her tightly, almost as if he let go he would lose her. How'd things end up like this? One minute she was in his office and the next, wind was rushing up her hair. It was quite a drop. She reached up and ruffled his hair, soft and pleasant. She could smell the wonderful scent of the Truffula flower in his green suit. He was talking to her soft and slowly, his tone was calm, despite what had happened. Suddenly a bright white light appeared and filled her with worry. It couldn't be her time just yet, what would happen to him? Should she even care? She didn't know, she just let the light glow brighter and grasped at his suited arms one final time.

-CENTURIES EARLIER-

Melina Dustarn was one of the finest immortals to ever live. A beautiful girl with long white hair up to her hips with little curls at the end, flawless skin, skin tight dark green suit and dark green eyes. Everyone looked up to her, until she committed to worst thing an immortal could ever do, Grow attached to a Human. She talked and only wanted to established friendship, but her kind wouldn't allow that and the guards were onto her in the blink of an eye. Melina was in the Immortal kingdom in the sky, trying to outrun them she fled to the castle. Melina ran to her father, Xarius, lord of all immortals.

"Father! Father!" She ran into his thrown room, so much gold and silver. "What is it Melina?" "The guards are after me! I wanted to establish a friendly connection with a human, but they found me! I know it wasn't right but I...but I...I'm so sorry!" Guards came pounding in grabbing Melina by the arms. "Father DO something! Please?!" Melina begged, Xarius sighed and shook his head, his white and grey beard waving along. "I'm sorry Melina, but you disobeyed the one rule immortals can not break! I can't move around it. It is punishable by death. The only way easier for you is forever. I sentence you to life in imprisonment." Tears threatened her eyes, "Father...please." He gestured his hand to the door. Melina was thrown into a prison cell in the dungeon. she used to visit here when she was only a child. She would explore the castle grounds, and scour every inch of the dungeon searching for secret passage ways. But she eventually decided that the only way out was through the door and the barred up windows. She looked out through the bars into the castle grounds and began crying.

Centuries later, rumbling echoed through out the castle. People had stopped praising and believing in the immortals, and when that happens everything breaks down. Melina's cell was the last one in the prison room and was getting closer to being erased. Thankfully, she had began secretly filing her barred window a few months ago. With desperate kicking from her, the window gave way and she starred out the window. Her clothes hadn't wearied from centuries of imprisonment nor had her hair lost it's frailty. Her skin had gotten dirty from muck and filth though. Everything disintegrated behind her and with one frightened move, she leapt from the window and plummeted down. She would have landed in the castle garden, but since it no longer existed she fell straight through whiteness.

To her amazement she was passing through with no injury or disintegration. But in all of it she somehow became unconscious. She woke up sometime later in a flower field. The fresh aired smell of nature, and pollen ravaged the area. Melina felt something in her hand and inspected it to find she had cut her hand on a sharp rock. Her eyes widened. If she was bleeding, then that meant she was no longer an immortal. She was Mortal! She slumped back onto the field. Everything she knew was gone, her father, her home, that horrid cell room, and the whole of Immortal existence. She figured that if she was to LIVE here, then she would have to find a home and a suitable town or city.

All day and all night she walked, she passed through a town, so much had changed, for one people weren't living in caves or even huts. They were living in buildings. Everything was so sophisticated from what she remembered, so she was slightly scared. and to make matters worse, it started to rain. She finally came to a wheat field. She ventured through it with what little strength she had left. But she was cold, tired, shaken up, starving and completely hopeless, her feelings messed with her mind. She thought she could make out a house in the distance but she couldn't be sure. Finally her legs collapsed and everything blacked out.

Visions of a faceless figure invaded her dreams, she couldn't hear his voice or see his face, but she could understand that he meant no harm. A hand perched itself on her shoulder and slid its way down her right arm. The other hand touched her left cheek and made its way to her neck. She had a feeling this scene was gonna go further but instead darkness took over and she slowly opened her eyes, wondering who the mysterious gentleman was. She looked around her surroundings and couldn't understand one thing. How did she get in a room? It was filled with boxes and a single bed, which she was lying on. At first she was covered with a blue blanket, obviously the quilt for the bed, but her head removed it when she looked up at her surroundings. A circular window sat above her head. She felt like she was in an attic rather than a bedroom. Due to the bed that was her only lead on what this room was.

The door in front of her opened and, emerging from the light, a skinny figure emerged. As it got closer it turned out to be a boy. He had a fedora, strange stripped jeans and an apron on. She sat up. He stood next to the bed and sat down a lap tray with a plate of delicious looking pancakes on her legs. "Good morning. How are you feeling? Are you O.K?" She sat there speechless, it felt like she had lost her voice. She nodded, and lifted up her hand to inspect it. She found that it was covered by a white bandage. "Great! I know this must be a shock for you, but-" "Where am I? How did I get here? And who are you?" She picked up the fork. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm freaking out right now." The boy smiled, "It's alright. Your at my house in my room, after I saw you laying out on the road I couldn't just leave you there." He extended his hand, she took it. "Well thank you, and pleasure to make you acquaintance-um...?" "Once-ler." "I'm Melina, hi."

She gobbled up the pancakes. She was so hungry, considering that all she had had for the past few centuries was either disgusting food, sloppy and milky porridge, left overs from all of the rest of the immortals meals or snacks, or the occasionally small snack or huge leftovers from her father. Melina explained who She was; a girl running from her lost home, of course she left out the whole immortal thing. That could shock him more than she already was, But after hearing that Once-ler's family couldn't know about her because they would throw her out, she knew he probably has it rough anyway. Melina watched Once-ler pack stuff into boxes or go to and from his wagon outside, loading things into it. He told her that he was going to find the perfect material for something of his called a Thneed. When Once-ler's family went out shopping for his brothers bret and chet, once-ler went downstairs to cook himself some lunch.

While wandering around she knocked over his guitar. She picked it up, sat on his bed, and played a few notes on it but stopped immediately when Once-ler stood in the doorway. Her ears burned and she placed the guitar beside her. "I'm sorry, it was just lying there and I picked it up. I didn't mean anything by it, sorry." He walked up to her, "Hey, it's alright, I'd do the same thing. You don't need to apologise to me about anything." Melina smiled, "Thank you."

"Listen I"m heading off in a day or two, so do you need any help setting up in a house in town?" Melina tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, "Um, I was actually wondering if I could come with? I mean, I don't have anywhere else to go so...?" He smiled and sat next to her, "Sure, of course you can." Her smile brightened, "Hm Hm, thanks. You know, of all the people I've known in my life, you are by far the most intriguing...Once-ler."

The old man woke up from his flashback dream. It was about HER, he almost couldn't understand it. He looked out his newly fixed window. When the trees had begun growing back, he fixed up his house. First starting with the blocked up windows and ending with his doorbell booby trap and 'the boot'. He still keep the long pipe thing, who knows when he could use that?

The Truffula valley looked as though nothing had changed, it was a beautiful sight. There was more growing each day, he was glad he kept that seed, if he hadn't then he would still be a bitter shut in. And as annoying as The Lorax could be, most of the time Once-ler actually enjoyed his company. Now that The Lorax was basically living there again, he and Ted, sometimes Audrey, would swing by for a daily visit. The Lorax would come in the morning along with the animals who had recently settled in in his kitchen downstairs, and then Ted would visit in the afternoon.

"I'll wish upon a star, and hope it takes me far," "Huh?" Once-ler's attention turned to his bedroom door. "I'll make a wish, and blow it a kiss." Someone was singing, he opened the door and crept downstairs. "If it doesn't come true, it wouldn't matter 'cause I have you." He recognised that song, it was a lullaby, he used to hear it some nights before his 'biggering' got out of hand. "So hush now my sweet, for soon you'll meet," He got closer to the end of the stairs, leading him into the lounge room. The singing was coming from the kitchen. "The person just right for you, they'll know it too. You'll find it in your dreams, in your mind that gleams." He got closer, his gloved hand brushed against one of his lounges. He got to the kitchen, whoever was singing was staring out the kitchen window. "Hello?" The person turned, it was just Audrey. "Hi, I'm sorry did I disturb you?" "No, I'm fine. How did you know that song?"

"It's a special song from before Thneedville." Once-ler turned, Ted rushed into the kitchen. "Hey Once-ler." The aged man smiled, "Well hello Ted, care to tell me more about that song?" "Sure." Ted walked out of the kitchen and sat on a chair at the table in between the kitchen and the lounge room. "Well, it's really old, like I said, before Thneedville." Audrey walked up and sat next to him on another chair. "There's a whole story surrounding it. Well, more of a legend really." Once-ler folded his arms, this he had to hear. Ted continued.

"They say a beautiful girl was cast out of heaven and fell in love with a handsome businessman. She always sang that song, like a tune of her love. Then the man became mad with power and started hurting things and people, including her. She was so upset with herself and him that she climbed the tallest mountain above the sea and leapt to the rocks below. The man was devastated by her passing and joined her. Now their souls flow with the calming waves together and if you listen really hard, you can hear her beautiful voice sing that song on the wind. But the really weird part is that out where the sea is, the place where she jumped...no where else is calm. That's the only mellow place, the rest of the shore line of cliffs are crashing and wild." Once-ler felt disbelief. "It's only a legend. But most mothers do sing that song to their kids at night." Audrey finished.

"How interesting. That's quite a tale." He replied. "Does it describe their names?" Ted and Audrey looked at each other and shook their heads. "Hm, O.K, so how are you two early? Usually your here by midday or just after it." The two smiled, "It's the school holidays so we get plenty if weeks off." Ted said, "We just wanted to swing by early to let you know that we probably won't be visiting this afternoon or for a few days." Once-ler raised an eyebrow, "Why not?" "My mom and Grammy are taking a mother/daughter trip out of town so I have the house to myself, but I have to go help them pack." Ted explained, Once-ler smiled, "Good for them," The two kids walked to the door, "Bye Once-ler!" The man gave a slight bow and waited for the door to be closed.

He suddenly felt a slight annoyance when The Lorax walked out from behind a lounge and sat up on a chair. "Hey beanpole, how's it going?" "It's just fine moustache. Listen I'm in a bit of a hurry here, so can we talk later?" "Actually there's something I want to talk about now," "I'll take a rain check O.K?" With that he hurried upstairs to his bedroom, but he didn't go that fast considering how he barely moved around the house anyway, and his age had slowed things down too. Suspicious, The Lorax followed him upstairs and asked, "What's the matter beanpole? What going on? And where's-" "This is a private matter moustache. Stay out of it!" With that he slammed the door. The Lorax went back downstairs and sat on a chair. This was the first time he had seen Once-ler really agitated since the argument before the last tree fell. Something was up, and he needed to find out.

Meanwhile upstairs, Once-ler ran through a plastic box of newspapers Ted had brought over after the town wall was removed and the sky had brightened. He brought them over as a favour to Once-ler to make sure that he didn't miss out on anything important while he was shut away from the world. He rushed through them as fast as his poor age body could do. He finally found one with a heading that cut a hole so deep through his soul that he thought he had been stabbed. He read the article and his eyes started to burn, he then gathered up all the newspapers similar to that one and placed them in a red and black metal box and locked it. That was his special keep-sake box, he kept the key to it by his bedside, it was for him and only him. Though, after a night of reading all the articles that were similar to the one he picked up, he wasn't sure it even mattered anymore.

Ta-da! There chap 1 done! Tell me what you think but like I said, "don't judge me" Immortal turned Mortal's gotta suck but hey, that's an interesting background for ya.


	2. Chapter 2: Not Natural

Chapter 2: Not Natural

Melina had been contemplating how to act on this journey, she didn't know how mortals, um, humans?...PEOPLE, acted nowadays. She figured they're probably individual so she should just act herself. But the strange part was that since that guitar thing, she couldn't think straight around him. It was like her mind just fogged up. She had an idea of what this was, but she couldn't be getting it now, for some guy she just met! It's just not natural. She sighed, then she heard some kind of maniacal laughter coming from out the round window. She peeked out and saw two hillbilly looking twins laughing at Once-ler and mocking him for something. Suddenly a rush of pure hatred exploded within her and she snuck downstairs everyone else was busy either sleeping in, doing their own thing or watching tv to notice her. Talk about oblivious.

She snuck out the back near the barn and peaked around the house, the two boys who she knew to be Once-ler's brothers pushed him into a puddle of mud. Seeing mud cover his entire body and clothes and seeing how hurt he was, Melina couldn't control herself and stalked over to the boys. "Hey! What are you doing?!" The twins looked at her, confused to why she was there. The one on the right said, "Having fun." She folded her arms "By pushing your OWN Brother into mud?!" They nodded, and the left one said, "Wanna try?" Anger burned inside of her and she said, "That's it!" Fists curled as she approached them, but a hand grasped at her leg. Once-ler shook his head with emotion in his face. She nodded sympathetically and walked up to the twins.

"So I'm not gonna get you two today, fine. But if I see you picking on him ever again I'll creep into your rooms at night and..." She whispered the rest, Once-ler couldn't hear it but by their faces it was a scary threat. She walked back to him and helped him up. "Are you O.K, Once...ler?" She almost nicknamed him, almost. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Great lets get back to packing your room hey? Wherever you want to go is waiting."

-THAT NIGHT-

Melina hadn't showered in, well centuries, literally, so when she found that Once-ler had a bedroom shower she was right in there. She wanted to tell him that she used to be a legendary being, but it wasn't the time, so she shifted her subject and she closed to door to the room. But she hadn't closed it properly so it was open, allowing more sound to traveling thought to Once-ler and her. She searched the cupboards and found a comb for her hair. "So um, why are you moving out exactly?" "I'm uh, going out on a, um, personal mission." He didnt know what she would say if he told her that he was gonna knit a product, apparently knitting wasn't for guys. Once-ler was fiddling with his guitar strings when he looked to see that the door was mostly open and Melina was getting into HIS shower. Naked. Thankfully though, his shower was one of those rocky looking glass showers so you could see the persons silhouette and some colour but nothing too majorly revealing.

His voice caught in his throat when she turned the shower on and put HIS hair product that he used for HIS hair in HER hair. "What kind of personal quest?" "I'm uh, inventing-Thneed-knitting-shower." A whole lot of words came out at basically he same time, but it ended straight up with shower. Melina stopped rinsing her hair and said, "What?" Realising what he had said, he rephrased it.

"I'm inventing a product called the Thneed. It's a revolutionary product that'll change the world!" Melina started combing her hair and said, "Really? That sounds amazing. How are you going to invent it?" Once-ler's cheeks burned as he quickly became embarrassed, not only by her question, but by her all together. She stood up for him today and now she was SHOWERING in his room. "Um, by knitting. Not that there's anything Wrong with that but-" "I think it's cool." He got caught by surprise.

"Really?" She turned the water off, "Well yeah. It's a great skill. And it's not like there's anything UN-Manly about knitting right?" His face became hotter as she stepped out of the shower with a towel around her like a dress, he quickly turned around. She said the exact same thing that he told himself about knitting. Immediately she noticed the door being opened and shut it. She was so embarrassed, she just hoped that he didn't see anything. She tossed on a robe and went out and sat on the other side of the bed.

"It's a great sign of creativity." She was on the right of the bed and was staring straight at his closet. "Can I ask you something?" She asked as she got up and shut the bathroom light off. His bedroom light was already on so they didn't have to worry about darkness. "Sure." He replied, she went to his closet and looked for clothes to put on, he didn't realise what she was doing, he was still messing with his guitar. "Are you a nice guy?" "Last time I checked yeah," "Good, because I've known some people who have acted so sweet and innocent and kind, only to turn on you when it suits them. I just hope your not one of them."

It's true Melina had known a few people like that but she was refreshing mainly to her father who had cared for her even after her mother died and then as soon as she accidentally broke a so-called precious and sacred rule, he couldn't even find it in his heart to move around it. Instead he threw her in prison like some low life and every one and everything treated her badly. He couldn't even ASK for her to be treated just a little bit better. No, she was treated like a misunderstood monkey in a cage. For show.

"I'm not, believe me. That may be my family's department sometimes but I'm nothing like whoever your thinking of. I promise." She felt reassured, "Thanks, it feels good to trust someone again." "What do you mean?" She thought about telling him, but decided against it. "I've uh, had some rough points. I'll tell you about it some other time." He turned to face her and got the shock of his life when she was going through some of his clothes. "W-what are you doing?" He asked, trying to keep his cool. "I'm looking for bed appeal clothes. I've been sleeping in my usual clothes ever since I got here and they've been through the rough points with me." She finally felt something soft, to which she recognised as bedtime approved clothes. "Ah! Here we go!" She pulled a shirt out and stopped as soon as she saw what it was.

"PJ's? ADULT PJ's? With bunnies on them?" She looked at Once-ler, who was stressing out so much, he was trying to hide it it but it was useless. She draped it over her arm and continued searching in his closet. "Y'know there's something about a guy in pyjama's that's so unbelievably...cute." Once-ler stopped stressing and looked at her. She pulled out matching pants and motioned for him to turn around.

"What do you mean 'Cute'?" "I mean what I said, cute. Just plain old adorably cute." His stomach twisted in a knot. "It's...it's cute? That I wear pyjama's?" She smiled and slipped the last arm sleeve on. "I didn't say JUST it was cute," she got strange mood swings like this sometimes, she couldn't control herself. She would be so mischievous, or bad, or just plain old emotion swinging. But this time, it was like lust, love, irrationality, mischief, and bad girl mixed together. This had never hit her before so she ran with it.

She crept onto the bed, all in his pyjamas, sly look on her face, slowly crawling over to him. "I could have meant YOU were cute." His heart beat was all he could here, she looked so...good. Beautiful, kinda sexy, adorable and sly all at the same time. She reminded him of a fox, a sexy sly fox. "Oh I do do I?" He realised he just said the fox part out loud. She could see the red invading this face so much. "And YOU remind me so much of a cute little bunny. An Adorable, sweet, skinny healthy, handsome little bunny." He set his guitar on a box on the ground and turned back to her. Immediately, their eyes locked. Dark forest green burning into soft sky blue. "The fox has met her match." She said, they found themselves leaning in closer, heat rising, hearts pounding, all sounds except for their hearts and breathing ceasing, they closed their eyes...and kissed.

It was electric. Shocks and thrills ran through both bodies, hearts pounded faster and both finally broke apart. They felt like they were floating, and both breathed in precious air. Her mood switched back to normal as she came to terms with what had happened. She got off the bed and leaned against the now closed closet doors. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that at all. I just-I think I'm gonna pass out." She rubbed her head, switched off the light and sat down on the bed. She turned away while Once-ler got dressed. He lay on the bed while she went over what had happened, a whole new thing just took over her.

She lay down on the bed and faced to wall, on account of how embarrassed she was. Suddenly, she felt something around her chest and arms. She thought a snake or something had dropped on her, but when she looked with what little light there was, she found that Once-ler had draped his arm over her. He then pulled her closer to him. She felt loved as he did this. Her heart warmed and she felt like crying. "Once," His heart skipped a beat hearing her pet name him. "Do you do this with Every girl you rescue off the road in the rain?" He smiled, "no, you're just special." She planted a kiss on his hand, "Thank you."

He looked at his now ungloved hand, ever since he went through the papers he wanted to feel what things felt like again. He noticed his hands had aged a bit but not by much thanks to coverage. He wished he could move on, but the sad truth was that he didn't think he had the strength. Melina was his life and now, now he didn't know what to make of it. There was a knock at his bedroom door. He opened it to find The Lorax staring up at him wondering why he was acting so strange.

"What's the matter beanpole? And don't tell me it's nothing, I've noticed some extreme changes lately, and being the guardian of the forest I need to trust you again, because your living here. So what's wrong?" Once-ler sighed, "It's nothing moustache. I'm just adjusting." The Lorax raised a furry eyebrow. "To what? The trees have been growing back for a while now. In fact, everything looks like nothing's changed. What have you got to adjust to?" NOW he began to get annoyed, "PERSONAL matters, alright? Just leave me alone." "No, not until I find out what-" The door slammed in his face.

He stalked down the stairs, "Fine, beanpole, if you won't tell me freely then I'm just gonna have to find out the sneaky way, but I'm gonna need some taller help too." The Lorax had a plan in mind, but it would take some preparing. Actually he had two plans in mind. One would benefit his curiosity, and the other would benefit Once-ler in a way. He waited and waited until Ted came round to see Once-ler to tell him that his mum and grandmother would leave the next day for their trip.

He sat on one of the chairs as Ted opened the front door. "Hello Ted," Ted turned and immediately recognised him. "Hey, your the Lorax! Once-ler told me about you. The guardian of the forest." The Lorax smiled, seemed he had not been forgotten. "How do you do. Now, Ted, I need some help from you right now." Ted sat on a chair next to him, "Sure, I'll help, but where's Once-ler?" "Beanpoles out watering some tree saplings, he'll be back in a short while, which'll give this help some more time." He hopped off the chair and made his way to Once-ler's bedroom, to where Ted followed him.

Ted opened the door, "Uh, just a question, but what are we doing?" The Lorax immediately started searching through Once-ler's room, "We're looking for anything in a diary or box or something. Anything with a lock on it." This felt wrong to Ted but he knew the The Lorax wasn't a bad guy, and he probably had his reasons so he searched. He looked under the bed and found a red and black metal chest with a golden lock on it. "I found something." He alerted The Lorax, who came rushing over. Luckily for them, Once-ler left the key in. The Lorax turned the key and opened the box.

"Do you want privacy with this?" Asked Ted, The Lorax nodded. "O.K, well, just tell the Once-ler that my mom and Grammy are leaving tomorrow. Bye." Ted headed home, wondering what was in the box, but decided to find out the next time he saw the guardian again. And back in Once-ler's bedroom, The Lorax poured through the box carefully emptying it. It was all photos or paperwork or even news articles involving a girl named Melina. If there was something that had anything to do with her, it was in there. There was even recording tapes from video camera's.

He pulled out a newspaper that on the cover had shocking news. He went emotionless. He missed this. HOW Could He Have Missed this? He didn't know, but he was gonna talk to Once-ler about it ASAP!

Chap 2...done! The plot thickens. What do you think? Say what you think please! By-The-Way, it's kinda difficult to write for what the opposite sex, the guys, might think. Especially Once. I have no idea what he would think or do at this point.


	3. Chapter 3: I Won't Tell If You Won't

3rd chap is up! Thank You to Jiaying101, for 'story alerting' me. Hope everyone likes this!

In the morning, Melina felt dazed. Almost as if she'd been hit by a truck or something made of warm fuzziness. With the events that happened the previous night; losing control of herself, acting like a tease, KISSING Once-ler, and then she went to bed with HIS arm wrapped around her. Once was quite a guy. She giggled at her nickname for him. It just rolled out of her mouth last night. And if fit him perfectly.

Luckily though, today was the day they would venture off for Once's Thneed quest. Melina was as excited as he was, but she still couldn't be known to his family and it seemed Bret and Chet hadn't tattled on her yet, so her threat must have worked. Though all morning her mind was somewhere else. That night she had that same dream, except MORE of it was shown.

One hand rested on her right arm while the other touched her left cheek. The person's face became clear, It Was Once-ler! But the dream didn't Just stop there. No, he leaned in and kissed her! And then said, "I'll never leave you. My sweet little honey." Her right hand then went to his left shoulder. She felt happy. Even when she woke up she wished Once-ler would say that. Especially since her name DID mean 'honey'. She sat on the bed and went over things.

"O.K, I think this guy is extremely cute and I can't even tell him." Sadly, the door was open and Once-ler peeked in the room when hearing her voice. "I am deep with this. I've never experienced this kinda of feeling before. Oh wow, as much as I can't believe this...I think I'm in love with him." "What?!" Once-ler fell in the room, causing Melina to spin around and realised that he had probably heard everything. "What are you doing?" She was in as much shock as he was. "Me? What about you...do you Really Love me?" Hands retreated to her mouth. "You heard me?" He nodded. She sat Down on the bed and started crying from shock. He sat next to her, "Hey, but it's O.K, cause I...I...I feel the same." Her face tilted to his, though she still had her mouth covered. "Really?" "Yeah," he slowly removed her hands from her mouth.

"How can this be?" She asked, there was NO Way that people could fall in love so fast. "I don't know, but I do know this...I want you to share this with me. My adventure, my Thneed business take-off, everything. I just met you, and I wanted to share this with you." She hugged him, "I want to share everything with you too, Once. Everything." She managed to pry away from him and said, "When do we leave?" He smiled, "Right now." Once-ler went downstairs to gather everything up like his guitar and Melvin for the trip, while Melina snuck out the back way and hid in the wagon.

Once-ler took a step outside and breathed in, he was finally setting out to fulfil his dream and he was bringing a new found passion with him. Only a few days together and already sparks were flying, and they were flying high. "Well here I go mum, about to change the world with my Thneed." He chucked two marshmallow bags in the wagon, hitting Melina. "Watch it." She whispered, whilst climbing in the wagon he gave a slight sympathetic look to say he didn't mean it, to which she smiled and nodded. "I'm actually doing this!" Melina shared his excitement.

Then his mother spoke up, "Now remember Oncie, if your invention ends up a failure instead of a success...well that wouldn't surprise me at all!" Then his family started laughing, Melina considered getting out and beating up on them and then speeding the wagon outta there, but she decided they weren't worth it. And besides she won't have to see them EVER again. One of Once's brothers Bret or Chet came over and punched Once in the arm, to which Melvin replied to by kicking him in the back with his hind legs scoring a quite laugh from Melina.

"Yeah, burn! But you'll see! Alright I'm gonna prove you all wrong! Come on Melvin." Melvin began to move out of there while Melina looked back to see them exploding in laughter. She wished she was still immortal so she could kick all their ass's and still leave no trace of violence. But they were just two-bit jerks. Since they were related to Once, she wouldn't do it, unless of course he gave her a blessing for it. But she had a feeling that'd never happen. Until they were far away from civilisation, she hopped on the front seat with Once who was playing a few chords on his guitar.

"This is amazing Once." He smiled, "Yep, just two people, a mule, a wagon and an amazing sense of optimism." "We don't Need optimism or even hope Once! Your invention is the best I've ever heard! People are SURE to catch on!" He played a few more notes, "Yeah, your right! And you know what, I'm just glad I can share it with you, honey." Melina lit up, it seemed that every minute their feelings got more and more powerful. It was strange but wonderful. She just hummed along with Once-ler's notes. And then when the sky darkened, she started to nod off to sleep and her head eventually feel down to her right on Once-ler's shoulder. He let it stay there for a minute or so before pulling over the wagon, letting Melvin off and putting them both on the fold up mattress he brought.

For the next week or so that followed, Melina decided to take it slow with her feelings. They grew more and more everyday. She have never felt this strongly about someone before. Melina, after a few days, came to the crazy conclusion...that she Must be in Love. It was completely insane, but there was no other answer. Melina would sneak in some hugs every now and then, and even sometimes give him a little kiss on the cheek. She would wait until, well...IF, they became serious to kiss him on the mouth.

Soon enough one early morning, Once dosed off in the front seat which motivated Melina to keep and eye on things, so she walked up to Melvin. "Hey Mel, Once-ler's having a kip. Do you mind if I take a seat on your back? Just so I can see what's going on, of course." The mule nodded his head and snorted. Melina smiled warmly. "I'll take that as a 'Yes'." She climbed on, the sun was far off into the distance, it was only Just dawn. "Well, what do you make of that?" She joked, but she only silently laughed though. It didn't matter though because soon she fell asleep on Melvin's back.

A few hours later Melvin was tired of walking and looked for a place to stop, maybe even some kind of water source, when he saw it and, in his own way, told Once-ler to get up. It did stir Melina though, and she opened her eyes a bit. She then jerked awake when Melvin kicked Once-ler's seat to wake him up. "Woah. We're gonna be there soon. I'm sure, it's like-Wow." Seeing Once-ler's expression, Melina turned to find the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. There it was, un-touched, un-claimed and free, the Truffula Valley.

Once-ler got out of the wagon while Melina sat there slack jawed, staring at this place. "This is...the most beautiful place...O.K, I have ever seen." Some time later, after accidentally picking an almost fight with the animals and giving them a ridiculous amount of marshmallows, Melina helped Once-ler set up the house they would be living in. It was like a puzzle, get the pieces, line them up and complete the mystery. Melina hammered in the nails, and helped move furniture and things into the house. And soon enough there was a perfect image of what a house for one, O.K. maybe two, people to live in should look like.

Melina climbed a tree, which was surprisingly sturdy by-the-way, and began to chat with Once-ler while he got his axe ready. "Y'know, I've been thinking, maybe we could just PICK the tree tufts off. It'd probably take a little while, but at least we wouldn't upset the animals habit or the balance of things." Once-ler raised and eyebrow. "Balance of things? What do you mean?" Melina saw another opportunity to tell him about who she really was, but declined it. It just wasn't the right time.

"Well, my mother...she always said that everything has a balance. People, animals, nature, even the whole world. And you probably shouldn't upset that balance." Once-ler's face turned to where she was seated. "Melina, this is a place of simply nature and animals, if there Was a balance we would have already upset it when we arrived here. Don't you think?" Melina gave it a few seconds, "Yeah, you're probably right." She jumped down off the tree and walked up to Once-ler. "But even so, can you give my idea Some thought?" He nodded.

He began to hack at the tree, causing all animals around it to scatter immediately. Melina didn't exactly agree with cutting the trees down, but she knew that if business sky-rocketed, Once would do the right thing. He just seemed like that kind of person. She helped him drag the fallen tree over closer to the house to pick the tufts off. She Still thought just simply grabbing a ladder and picking them off would be easier. They would probably grow back at some point anyway.

She went back to the fresh stump. Once-ler had good reasons for doing this, so she shouldn't worry. What she should be worrying about though, is the sudden storm coming into view. She backed up. It started to get more intense. She grabbed ahold of a nearby tree and held on. She looked behind her and was thankful that the storm wasn't disturbing Once-ler. For him it had just gotten a little dark. She kept thinking about what she would've done if she was still immortal. But before anyone knew it, the storm vanished and Melina looked up just in time to see a small orange thing pop out of the stump.

It was a living creature, the strangest she'd ever seen. He rubbed his head and turned to see the stump. He looked shocked. Melina stayed behind the tree, who knows what this thing was capable of, especially since she was mortal now. It amazed her however, that some of the animals and this orange creature with a huge moustache built a kind of memorial of stones around the stump. She started to get worried when the creature trudged over to Once. She followed him. The creature jumped on the lying down tree and scared the life out of Once. "Hey!" Once-ler fell to the floor.

"Did you chop down this tree?" "Uhh...No." Once got to his knees and looked around, "who did it? 'GASP' what's that?" He dropped the axe on the little bear who seemed to be growing attached to them, Once especially. "I think he did it." The furry creature became agitated and yelled at Once-ler, "Leave! Vacate the premises! Take your axe and get out!" Seeing how he'd spoken to Once-ler, Melina became furious and stalked over in between the two.

"We're not going anywhere!" Once-ler looked at her, "We?" "There's another one?" The creature seemed to believe there was only one person there, probably because he'd only seen one person. "Yeah, there's Two People here! Me and him! Now don't talk to him that way!" The orange creature studied her, "What's your name?" He asked, "My Name is Melina, and this is Once-ler, to whom you will treat with respect." "And who are you?" Once-ler poked the creature. "What? I'm the Lorax. Guardian of the forest. I speak for the trees."

Once-ler stood up beside Melina, he had no idea what 'The Lorax' was talking about. "So your telling me that you didn't see me magically appear out of that stump? With all the lightning and thunder and stuff? You didn't see any of that?" "I did." Muttered Melina, who was still angered by this 'guardian', but also she had a frightening experience and couldn't protect herself or anything since she was human now.

"No, but that sounds amazing. Can I see some of that?" Once-ler replied to his question anyway. He had heard what his companion, um, 'friend' said, but he wanted to get through this orange thing first. "Uh...yeah, I could show you. But that's not how this works." The Lorax folded his arms. "Okay, um...didn't really happen. Oh I know what you want." Melina couldn't help but give a small smile when Once-ler attempted to give the Lorax a marshmallow, which, ever since she met him, other then pancakes, had become one of her favourite foods.

However her mood quickly changed when that furry little thing began to kick the supports to the house out from the ground. While Once-ler dashed around trying to keep it up, Melina dashed around trying to grab hold of the tiny orange nuisance. She eventually noticed the little bear Once was about to grab. "Once!" She ran behind him and held his arm to stop him from hammering the little guy in. "Careful." The Lorax just used this as an excuse, to which Once-ler had had enough of. "All right. You know what, that is it! You listen to me you furry meatloaf. I'm going to chop down as many trees as I need. Okay, news flash, not going anywhere!" He stalked off and entered the house. "End of story!" He stuck his tongue out at the annoyance and slammed the door.

Melina looked down to see the Lorax wasn't there anymore, after a few minutes the door opened and he calming trudging out. Only to be picked up and glared at by the female. "What did you say to him?" "I only warned him to leave or the forces of nature will curse you Both until the end of your days!" "It'll have to get in line behind me, because if you cause Anymore trouble for him, I swear YOU'LL be the one cursed until the end of your days." She set him down, and walked off. "He means a lot more to me than you think, if you mess it up you'll be sorry." She whispered to herself as she walked and sat down on the riverbank.

After a few minutes Melina got up and dove into the lake. After hearing lots of splashes and watery sounds, Once-ler peered out the window to see Melina swimming. He watched her for god knows how long, until she finally came out of the water and he closed the window. Had she seen him? She walked in and grabbed a towel. "Um, do you need a change of clothes?" She smiled, "No, these dry rather quickly I just need this towel for my hair. But thank you." She walked up next to him, "You're cute Once." She gave him a small kiss in the cheek, "Don't ever let that go." She walked off and sat on the bed. She got a piece of paper, a pencil, a rubber and started drawing something.

-LATER THAT NIGHT-

After a semi-tiring day of setting up the house and collecting the rest of the material for his Thneed, Once-ler finally sat down to rest. That sun had been down for half and hour and already the furniture and everything was in place. His attention turned to the bed, Melina had been drawing when he didn't need any help and a few minutes ago she had walked out into the night. She had deliberately left the papers blank-side up. Curiosity took over and he crept over and examined them. They were beautiful drawings of a place filled with people, a glorious castle, a woman with a younger girl by her side, then it shifted to buildings involving 'Thneed' in them, like future planning or at least ideas, and then they became more of him. The last one showed both of them standing side by side...close. Like a photo.

He studied all of them until his ears perked up when he heard singing.

"I'll wish upon a star,

and hope it takes me far.

I'll make a wish,

and blow it a kiss.

If it doesn't come true,

it wouldn't matter 'cause I have you.

So hush now my sweet,

for soon you'll meet,

The person just right for you,

they'll know it too.

You'll find it in your dreams,

in your mind that gleams.

Have faith in yourself,

I know you will.

Let them nurse you back to health,

as you sit on the window sill."

The last word went longer and softer then all other words.

He went outside, Melina was on the roof gazing at the full beautiful moon while singing. "Where'd you learn that?" He called, Melina was startled and looked down. "Oh, um, well my mum used to sing it to me before I went to bed. It was like her lullaby for me. Telling me to go out and find something. Though I'm still searching, I don't know what it is I'm looking for." She jumped down. "Is it getting cold or is it just me?" He smiled, "I think inside's a better option." As they walked inside together, he slowing wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

After seeing her pictures, his feelings for her grew more like hers. Higher. Uh oh...pictures. He hadn't put the pictures back yet! When she saw the bed she rushed over and tried to cover everything up. She was so embarrassed. But she knew she was too late. They were basically scattered. He had seen every last one of them. "You're pretty good you know." She gave an embarrassed weak smile, "Thank you. Um, you weren't supposed to see them. Probably ever."

"I'm sorry. I saw them and I guess curiosity got the better of me." She placed the papers on the dinning table. "Should I sleep on the floor or something. 'Cause I know that this feels really awkward." "No, no, no! You can sleep in the bed. Uh, with me. I didn't bring a second bed so...yeah." She smiled and climbed in on the side closest to the wall. Sure, it was kinda squishy, but they had to sleep in that bed before they came here, so she had kinda gotten used to it.

When it got later, The Lorax tried to scare them away with that phoney 'forces of nature' trick. Only to be sprayed with the hose by Once-ler and then sneakily dropped in the river by Melina. She REALLY had a problem with him, by she seemed familiar somehow. When they got back to bed, Melina was smiling brightly. She liked it when she dropped him in the river after his fuzzy poof state. Once-ler was just tired and needed some rest. A few minutes after she settled down, unconsciously, Once-ler's arm went around her. She blushed and went off to sleep.

I just Had to add in the mini-movie thingy! You'll be pulled back to the present in the next chapter don't worry. I just don't want to spoil anything. Oh well, tell-me-what-you-think!


	4. Chapter 4: Rivers With Confessions

Thank you Jiaying101 for reviewing! I'm glad that I've inspired your character, I'll bet she's still gonna be wicked normal. It means the world to me when I get feed-back for my stories and Youtubes. In this chap events are high and things are blasting outta control. Stories really DO take on a life of their own!

A storm rolled in on merry old Thneedville. A thundering storm, filled with heavy rain. And through it all, miss Grammy Norma was walking home after about an hour of shopping. She had to make sure that she and her daughter were ready for tomorrow, she also bought a few things for her grandson. She was close to her house when she heard someone calling something. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were definitely shouting it. Through all the rain and wind, she could see someone hit the person over the head knocking them out. The person then proceeded to drag the knocked out person on the ground to wherever. But before they could, Norma hit them over the head with a shopping bag.

They fell to the floor and turned out to be a two-bit burglar. Norma knelt to the floor and looked at the person, they were hurt. "Hold on dear, I'll help you." She carried them home and as soon as she came near the stairs Ted appeared and was generally shocked to see an unconscious person. "Who's that?" He asked, "I'm not sure. Help us to your room," "Mine?! But what about mum? What will I tell her?" Norma winked, "I won't tell her if you won't." Ted helped norma with the person to his room and hid her under the bed. On a mattress of course with some pillows, you wouldn't just duck a person under a bed with no support. Especially a girl with such long hair.

"Will she be alright?" Ted asked, "I'm not sure, just check on her after we leave tomorrow. I'm sure you'll be able to handle this." Ted looked confident, too bad he didn't feel that way. Because the next morning when his mum and Grammy left, he wasn't sure what to do. What can you do? He just went up the stairs and pulled out the mattress. The body, the girl, she wasn't there. A shadow loomed over him and he turned. Two strong hands grabbed at his shirt shoulders and shoved him against the wall.

"Who are you?! Where am I?!" Her eyes seemed to give off a slightly evil, very pissed off, reddish glow that chilled Ted's soul. "Where's Once!?" She growled, "I don't know what your talking about!" He was scared, there was no mistaking that. "Who's Once?" Her face seemed to lighten the tiniest bit, she let go of him and dashed down the stairs. Ted caught his breath, he stopped breathing when he heard the front door close. She had dashed out the front door, to god knows where. He only hoped he'd never see her again.

He suddenly found himself running for help. He stumbled out of Thneedville and ran into The Lorax who was taking a little stroll. "Well hello Ted-" "Help!" He shrieked, "I've been attacked!" He sat down on a huge rock while The Lorax looked concerned, "Attacked? By who?" Ted caught his breath, "A...a girl. I couldn't tell her age but she looked really weird. Unusually long hair, strange clothes on, Really Mad! She grabbed me and forced me against the wall! I thought I was going to die! I don't know what she wanted. Something about where she was, who I was and someone who's name I can't remember." Ted kept gasping, after that whole fiasco he was really frightened. The Lorax felt worried for Ted, but who he was desricebing sounded very familiar. Maybe that talk with Once-ler should jump to Now?

Melina woke up to find Once-ler not there. She sat up and stretched. She soon found him outside, jumping to grab Truffula fruits. She laughed at his attempts and went out to help him. "Need a hand?" She asked as she approached him. "No, I'm fine." She laughed, "You're too proud Once," she kicked to tree and a Truffula fruit came tumbling into her hands. "Take a few steps back. Sometimes the simplest of things can turn out to be the greatest of things." She handed it to him and walked off back towards the house. The Lorax was at a window peering in. She leaned in close, "See anything you like?" Her sudden appearance startled him and he jumped back, fell off the window and was caught by Melina. She had a smart Alack smile on her face.

"Where do you go around scaring people like that?" "Where do you go spying into people's homes like that?" He rolled his eyes and nodded in a touché fashion. She put him on the ground and knelt down. "That was a real cute trick you pulled off to scare us last night." He remembered the frightened look on their faces, but somehow the way the female, Melina, grasped at Once-ler's arm seemed a bit more than a 'I'm scared, I need comfort because I'm a girl' routine. Especially since she didn't seem like that kind of person. Going back to the frightened looks, he gave a small smile.

He looked back to her, her face was stone cold. "Too bad I'm not laughing. I'm gonna let you off for now because of the satisfaction of dropping you in the river, no offence. But if you pull something like this again, I'm not too sure your gonna walk away properly...or even at all. Got it?" He was offended by this, but being wise, felt that she was saying this for another reason other than she was mad. He just nodded. "Good," she got up and walked back into the house. "Have a nice day." The Lorax wasn't done planning their departure just yet, because his back-up plan of floating them away was still in play. She wouldn't be able to get him if she was safely somewhere else with beanpole.

When the sun descended from the sky and the moon began to rise, Melina was brushing her hair when she asked, "Did you ever feel alone?" Once-ler stopped knitting his Thneed and looked at her at the dinning table. "What do you mean?" She set the brush down and starting combing her curly ends. "Well, when you were still living in that house. I saw the way your family treated you. Did you ever have friends? Or anyone who didn't treat you that way?" He was quiet for a long time it seemed, he just shook his head sadly and got back to knitting. He was starting to get emotional from her question. She finished combing and sat next to him on the bed. After maybe a minute she placed a comforting hand on his leg.

"I'm sorry...I'm here now. So you don't have to be alone anymore." He smiled at her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek to which she blushed at. She sat there for the next few minutes, until Once-ler finished his Thneed. He stood up and placed it on a chair. Admiring it. Melina beamed at it, it looked so simple but basing on what Once-ler told her about it, it seemed so much more. "Now that's a Thneed! Nothing unmanly about knitting, no sir!" Melina giggled at him. "Oh your so smart." He looked back at her smiling brightly. He yawned and Melina replied to that by saying, "My thoughts exactly." They both got into bed, with Melina facing the wall, as usual.

Once-ler quickly fell asleep and unconsciously wrapped his arm around her again. She smiled and went to sleep too. Boy did she miss beds. Back when she was locked up, she either had to sleep on the floor or on a rickety bed. She preferred this much more. However, unknown to both off them, some animals broke in and picked up the bed. When they tried to carry it out of the front door, it wouldn't fit. Strangely though the banging didn't really disturb the two. The animals eventually carried the bed out a window and slowed it into the water. However The Lorax's plan took a gigantic pratfall when pipsqueak waved at them from the bed. He had snuck aboard it.

The fish tried to pull the bed back, but only succeeded in pulling of the quilt, causing Melina to grab hold of Once-ler for warmth and what looked on her face to be desperation. Panicking, the animals and The Lorax ran around the other side of the river trying to get the tiny bar-ba-loot back onto shore. Whilst running, pipsqueak fell back onto the bed when Once-ler grabbed hold of Melina and cuddled her. When they tried to get him back by hanging from a tree, he got distracted by some Truffula fruit, which annoyed The Lorax greatly. Accidentally, Once-ler's foot fell into the water and steered them into some rapids.

Frightened, pipsqueak rushed to the end of the bed, flipping it. When it came back up again, fish sprawled off the bed as they straightened up. Once-ler and Melina woke in shock, not only to be cold and covered in water, but to find when had flipped, Melina and flipped onto Once-ler, her face against his. They were kissing! Melina jumped off Once-ler and both felt pretty awkward but there were more important matters to deal with now. Melina grabbed at Once-ler's pyjama arm, she was cold and frightened, not only by what was happening but because she was no longer immortal and she-they could get seriously hurt.

"Uh, what's happening? Where is-Where are we?" Once-ler was equally freaking out when he spoke. "Hey!" The Lorax shouted, pointing ahead. "You got trouble, and it's coming up fast." Both looked ahead to see violent rapids. Melina grabbed pipsqueak and an arm of Once-ler. She grasped on tighter to his limb as the violent rapids proceeded, but loosened up a bit when they stopped. All three laughed at the fact that they survived. Melina halted when she looked up. "Um, Once?" He and pipsqueak looked up too and their expressions dropped. "Oh no." There was a waterfall approaching. A giant one.

Melina's grip on Once-ler tightened. A small feeling of protectiveness began inside of him and a hand grasping at the bed came around and grasped gently at Melina's hand on the bed. "Help us!" She shouted over to The Lorax. He managed to climb on a hill and started pushing a boulder off, but Once-ler, Melina and pipsqueak were too busy Not Dying to notice. Once-ler grabbed the pillow and tried to row the bed backwards. Melina did the same except with her hands. She almost fell in before Once-ler grabbed her to stop that from happening. Both screamed when they saw a boulder heading their way. They scrambled to the pillow side of the bed and were suddenly flung off the bed.

The bed fell down the waterfall. In the air, all three screamed. Pipsqueak especially, but thankfully Once-ler caught him and to Once-ler's surprise, Melina latched onto Once-ler, tightly. For a moment all he could hear was a heartbeat. He soon realised that there was two hearts going off at the same time. Their heartbeats were in-sync. They plummeted down to the earth, Melina's grip tightened. Her chest pulling closer to his with pipsqueak safely in the middle. They collided and slid on the ground. Pipsqueak wandered off, leaving Once-ler and Melina lying on the floor. Once-ler opened his eyes and felt his heart, he was fine and he was still alive. The animals came rushing over, but Once-ler was oblivious to them when he saw Melina not moving. He listened to her heart, he couldn't hear anything. He started to panic and pushed down on her chest pleading for her to wake up. Her breathed air into her, if he wasn't trying to save her life he would be going crazy because this was kind of like kissing her.

The Lorax tried slapping her to wake her up, but nothing was happening so he rubbed two random bar-ba-loots together. "Clear!" He shouted, the electrified animals made impact with her heart, causing her to rattle and shoot straight up. Once-ler was on the verge of tears, he looked at her. She was fine, but one lone tear escaped his eyes anyway. She felt her stomach and heart and was relieved to be alive. She immediately pulled Once-ler close and hugged him. "Ha ha! Once I'm O.K!" She turned to The Lorax,

"I was heading into the light and you pulled me right back and hear I am!" She then hugged him. "You saved my life! Thank you!" Guilt emerged and The guardian felt uncomfortable. "Yeah, well I know. It's not that big of deal." She held him in front of her, "Are you kidding me? It IS A Big Deal!" She hugged him again. "We almost went over that waterfall!-wh...in the bed, how did the bed get in the river?" She held him out in front again.

"Uh, about that, actually...I-put-your-bed-in-the-water." Expressionless, Melina dropped him and Once-ler helped her up. They both were very pissed off. "I didn't mean you any harm. I just wanted to calmly float you away." She turned back, "Calmly? CALMLY?! We almost went Over a waterfall. We almost died!" A finger pointed at Once-ler, "He could've gotten hurt!" Once-ler seemed to have a million feelings going through his face at the same time. She looked at him and her face softened. She then turned back to The Lorax with daggers in her eyes. "How is ANY of this 'calmly'?" He sighed, "Look everyone needs the trees, and your chopping them down. So we've got a big problem." "You're damn RIGHT we've got a big problem! YOU'VE got a big problem! I let you off with a warning last time, but this time it's gotten Serious!" Hearing nothing from Once-ler she turned back and The Lorax noted her expression when she saw Once-ler deep in thought. Pipsqueak tugged at his pants legs.

"Alright, look." He knelt down and picked up pipsqueak. Melina knelt beside him, a comforting hand on his left knee. "I hereby swear that I will never chop down another tree." He set pipsqueak down, placed a hand on his heart and in the air. "I promise." Melina looked at him add gave a small soft smile, which The Lorax also noted. "Thank you. But I'm gonna keep my eye on you two." The two humans got up, "Good, now I've got a big day tomorrow so I'm gonna get some sleep." He walked off, but Melina stayed, "Uh, Once?" He came trudging back, "Right after I find my bed." Melina gazed after Once-ler. She then glared down at The Lorax. After an electrocuted bar-ba-loot shocked a fish, she picked it up and cradled it. It was fine, just passed out. The other animals walked off, but the Lorax stayed, he could tell Melina wanted to talk.

"Because I'm tired and Once needs help, I'm gonna leave payback for tonight, but anymore of this and you'll be double deep." The Lorax sighed as she walked to the river, "Look, I'm sorry I almost hurt you and your mate, but it was all for the trees sake." She slid the fish in the water, "It's not me I'm worried about it's-wait, what? Mate? He's not my mate! He's my travelling companion and my friend. He's not my mate at all." "I've seen the way you look at beanpole, that's not the look of a friend. It's something stronger." She turned back to him, "That is none of your business and there's no way I'm explaining my personal matters to YOU." She poked him and stalked off to help Once-ler. What did that furry orange creature know about her anyway? Her business is best kept to herself, and no one else. "Mate. What a big joke." She grumbled as she looked at the water, helping Once-ler spot his bed. She smiled, It was kind of a cute title if you think about it.

"Melina Dustarn, Once-ler's 'mate'." The scenario played over and over again in her mind. Until they finally fixed the bed up and dried it out. Every time she and The Lorax saw each other or he was in sight she would glare at him, he may not glare back but she didn't care. She had a future plan in mind and if Once-ler had gotten hurt or worse, The Lorax would be in Very deep trouble. They got into bed, and just as Melina started to get comfortable, Once-ler spoke up. "Do you care for me?" Her heart was all she could hear. They had a kinda strong idea that they liked each other but neither was so certain. "Um, what do you mean?" "Well, back at my families house you said that you loved me, and I kinda return the feelings too. And back at the river, you were concerned I might have gotten hurt. Do you care for me?" Melina faced the wall, her voice was no where to be found.

She hugged her arms, she didn't know what to say, he kissed near her eyes. And then, on purpose, wrapped his arm around her. "Don't worry, you work on your answer, but I think I've already found mine." Tears started at her eyes, "I love you Once-ler!" She turned around and hugged him tightly. He stroked her hair, "I love you too, Melina." She looked up at him, her face tear-soaked. They kissed, mouth to mouth. It lasted a while before breaking apart and finally falling asleep in each others arms.

The next morning, they awoke with nasty surprise. Once-ler turned over and screamed to find a snoring Lorax next to him. He screamed and bolted straight up, causing Melina to jerk awake in hope that nothing was wrong. She however was happily mistaken, but immediately came to Once-ler's aid when he got punched. "Ow. Okay, what...question, what are they doing here?" Their house was filled with animals. Melina frowned at The Lorax. "And follow up if I may, what are you doing here?!" Once-ler was mad. "Well after the incident last night, we found one of your socks and we came here to return it, but when we got here you were asleep." A bar-ba-loot dribbled on Once-ler's nose, "Ew, exactly. And sleeping is the body's way of telling other people to go away." Melina turned Once-ler's face to hers, "Let me see that," she pulled a piece of her dark green sleeve up and wiped the remaining drool off of his nose, he flinched. "Ow," they both smiled,

She leaned in and kissed his nose, "Feel better?" His smile brightened softly, "Much." The Lorax could see what was going on, "yeah, and you both looked so Cozy. And it was cold outside, and we just fell asleep, no harm done." Once-ler turned back, "No harm done," he jumped off the bed, "No harm done! Okay!" He trudged off, The Lorax looked at Melina who was frowning hard at him. She leaned close to him, "I blame YOU for this!" She whispered and poked him to show she meant business. She got off the bed and followed Once-ler to comfort him.

He stopped when he saw a fish bathing in one of his cups. "Oh, okay I put my lips on th-well I used to anyway." Melina blushed deeply, "That's not All you put your lips on Once." She whispered to herself, The Lorax heard but he didn't say anything, right now would not be the time for it. She flinched along with Once-ler when a swomee-swan laid an egg in a bowl. "Ew, did you just...in my bowl!" Once-ler was clearly upset by this. She flinched because of the pain, but was also kind of disturbed by the fact that it was in their bowl. He dropped to the floor in shock while she knelt down beside him, a comforting hand on his leg. The Lorax used a toothbrush to comb his moustache. "Why do you have one of these? You don't even have a moustache." He chucked it over to them, Once-ler picked it up. All through it were orange hairs, "That's disgusting." Remarked Melina, Once-ler cringed, "Okay, that is it!" The Lorax stopped at the fridge, the two humans came walking over.

"What? I thought we made a deal last night?" "Yes, we did! And I said I wouldn't chop down anymore trees!" Melina stood beside Once-ler folding her arms and glaring at the orange intruder. "And I said I was gonna keep an eye on you. I'm starving what's for breakfast?" He opened the fridge to find the chubby bar-ba-loot stuffing a stick of butter into his mouth, Melina felt sick, "you have got to be kidding me." She wobbled but was caught by Once-ler who continued to stare in shock at the fridge. She got up, she felt a bit better now, "Ah, breakfast is overrated." The Lorax shut the fridge and Once-ler groaned, his hands pulling down his face. He took a deep breath and said, "You know what? I got work to do."

He dropped his clothes on the floor which mad Melina's heart beat faster and faster and her face burned, he had gotten dressed in front of everything. Somehow he kinda looked twice as handsome as he did before. "Yup, I got to go in town and sell my Thneed!" He held up the knitted object in front of The Lorax, he laughed, "You chopped down one of my trees, to make that piece of garbage?" Melina felt enraged again, and walked over to Once-ler. "Garbage? Oh no, Oh No! You do not get it. This is a revolutionary product, that will change the world as we know it!" He zipped off, Melina stood there watching Once-ler ready to make The Lorax feel a bit bad for insulting Once-ler's wonderful creation.

"It has a million uses!" He gestured for Melina to join him, she walked over gracefully. He wrapped it around her, "Look at this! It's a dress or strapless shirt!" He whisked it off her causing her to spin. When she stopped she caught her head and gazed after him, he pointed out animal tracks on the floor. "Muddy tracks all over your floor by uninvited guests? Well, the Thneed sure comes in handy for that!" He wiped away the tracks in one go. "But wait, There's more! Thanks to it's all-natural micro-fibres. The Thneed is super-absorbent!" He dunked it into a glass and soaked up the water, never minding the fish that was in there, thnakfully there was enough water left for them to breathe.

He then dropped it on The Lorax's head, "It also works as a hat." "A soaking Wet hat." Mumbled Melina holding back a laugh. "Of coarse you probably want to wring it out first." Melina stood by his side, holding his hand and smiling at him. His hands retreated to catch his amazing product which was thrown to him by an angry Lorax. "Go ahead, Go Ahead! Knock yourself out! But no one's gonna but that thing!" Once-ler twisted it getting the water off of it, and wrapped it around his neck as a scarf. He grabbed his guitar and opened the door, "Good to know. Well fortunately your not the target audience, weirdo." "Your bringing a guitar?" The Lorax questioned him, "Oh yeah, oh I got a little jingle, gonna blow some minds sell some Thneeds! Yeah." He shut the door leaving him and Melina outside. He was caught off-guard when she suddenly wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. "Go sell me some Thneeds Once. I have faith in you." He smiled, "Thank you." She unwrapped her arms and walked with him to Melvin.

"Don't listen to him, he's just mad because you cut down one of his precious trees. I'm sure one will grow back from the stump." He nodded and placed a Thneed sign on Melvin. "Well, I'm off. Gonna sell some Thneeds and change the world." She smiled, "And best of all, you'll be coming back to a clean house." She kissed him on the cheek. "Have a great day Once." She stood there, smiling and waved at him until he was out of sight. She then headed back to the house to find The Lorax sitting on the bed. She trudged up to him. "Okay that's it! First you try to scare us away, THEN you almost Kill us, and NOW you invade our house?! Some guardian you are! All you do is annoy people!" "Tough talk coming from you, your not even human." She burned inside, "Okay, now there's a point where all insults are mean but that-" "How'd you get here anyway? How'd you become like this? Your supposed to be an immortal aren't you?" Her face dropped, "O.K, OUT! Everybody out!" The house cleared faster then a forest on fire.

"What do YOU know, anyway." "Your name's Melina and you're the daughter of Xarius, king of all immortals. So how'd you get here and become mortal. I never thought any immortal would want to give that up." She growled at him, "Well if you Must know, it's all my fathers fault! He locked me up for communicating with a human and everyone treated me like dirt! I escaped when the kingdom came crashing down! I'm all that's left of immortals, but now I'm a mortal so I'm not exactly concrete evidence. Which means I can be hurt, but if you even Try to hurt Once you'll be in for it!" "I can see you two are pretty close." She could've had flames shooting from her eyes, "What's That supposed to mean?!" He looked at her, "I've seen you two, you stick up for him, the way you two were sleeping wasn't usual, and how you act around beanpole is pretty clear." "Look you just stay out of that!" "Does he know about you?" She felt almost defeated, "No, but you'd better not tell him! Or else the payback will be more severe!" She flung open the door and he went walking out.

"I'll kill him if he tells." She mumbled. Even though the morning could have gone better, the day flew by and by the time Once-ler came home there was candles, Truffula fruit, pancakes and marshmallows and a beautiful Melina waiting for him. She wore a red dress made from Truffula tufts, it looked amazing. But as soon as she noticed the tomatoes in his face, she grabbed a napkin and carefully blotted his face. "What happened?" "Nobody thought it was a good idea." He said glumly, "The Thneed?" He nodded, "They must be blind or mixing medication then. Your Thneed is a wondrous idea. Give them some time, they just need to see the brilliance that is you." She kissed him, no tongue, and dropped the napkin in the bin. "But hey, my mother always said; 'When you're feeling a frown, chow down!'" She sat him down in a chair and sat herself down.

"Did you do all this today?" He asked as he cut a pancake. "Yup," "When'd you do the dress?" She smiled, "After I got the house clean, I picked the tufts off so 'the boss' wouldn't hassle me." He looked proud. "How'd you make that?" "Knitting. My mum taught me." "Your mum is important huh? Your mum taught you this, your mum sung you that, you mum always said that." "Yeah, she was a great person, she died when I was a young teen, but I still remember how she looked. Similar to me, long white hair, no curls though, pretty skin, always dressed similar to me. I miss her." She sighed, "Oh well, no 'Th'need to dwell on the past. How's the cooking is it good?" "Yeah, it's pretty-'Th'need? Very clever." They both laughed.

After eating, both stood up and looked at each other. Black as night green stared into soft as silk blue. Both leaned in closer. "Once, do you know what you're doing?" Closer, "More or less," Both kissed, romantically turned into tonguing romantically. They soon fell on the bed and after a few minutes of kissing, Melina's memory of what she truly was came flooding back, but she loved him so much she was sure he'd understand, "Once...can I...tell you something." Still kissing, "Sure," "My age..." "Oh, I don't...care about your age." She smiled inwardly, "I'm 2020." He stopped kissing and stared at her, "What did you say?" She looked up at him, since he was technically on top of her. "I said, I'm 2020 years old." He got up and walked to the table, processing.

She got up, "Once, I'm sorry, I thought you'd be fine with it." He spun around holding his hands up in defence. "What are you? Are you even human?" "What? Yes, of course I'm human. I can age now." "Now?!" He stormed outside, there was an actual storm outside with rain shooting down. She hurried after him, "Once! Look I'm sorry about lying to you. But I can't change who I was! I was an immortal, a being who cannot age and who is kept that way by people believing in them. I was locked away for interacting with a human, but I escaped when people stopped believing and everything was being erased. I guess I crossed over from IM-mortal TO mortal."

She sighed, he still stood with his back to her in the pouring rain, "Look, I can't change what I was! I was born immortal, my parents were immortal, I was an immortal! But with my mortal age, I'm technically twenty." He turned to face her, "You said your mother died." "She did!" "How?!" She fell silent, "The same way I got turned mortal. She transitioned over somehow and...befell a mortal death. I miss her more everyday...but when I got turned mortal I thought my existence was over! I didn't know what to do! But you came along, and helped me! I don't know what I'll do if you aren't there with me! Please...I don't want to be alone anymore."

She took his hand, and he tightened his grip. "You don't have to be." She hugged him, they were inseparable. For the rest of the night, they talked. They cleared everything up, every last detail. Before they finally went to bed, Melina spoke up. "Once, promise me something?" He turned to her, "Anything." "Promise me you'll Never change?...and that you'll Never leave me. Promise?" He took her hands in his, "I promise."

2020's a BIG Number! Hope you enjoyed! Say-What-You-Think!


	5. Chapter 5: Dreams, Nightmares & Success

Number 5 is down! Jiaying101, it's always nice to hear from you, I'm glad you like the story so far. Keep reading and enjoy!

No luck the next few days of Once-ler's Thneed selling. The more he sold, the more tomatoes were thrown at him, the more optimism was questioned, the more Melina became upset. She didn't like him coming home to her all covered in liquid and disgusting vegtables. She had Always hated tomatoes and them being thrown at him and making him feel miserable just made her hate them even more. Once-ler told her that the townspeople didn't mean it and that the Thneed would sell soon enough. Melina took his word on it and one afternoon she approached him with a plan.

"I'm coming with you." "What?!" He spun around taking the sign off Melvin. "I said, tomorrow I'm joining you with selling your Thneed. I think you could use a partner-in-crime." "But what if they direct the tomatoes at you?" He asked, leading Melvin away from the wagon to feed. "Well if their 'joke' comes my way, I won't appreciate it one bit. But don't worry Once, I'm sure they won't be willing to hit a girl." Eventually, Once-ler reluctantly agreed for her to come along. She walked to the river for a dip when The Lorax approached her. "You joining beanpole tomorrow huh?" She looked at him, she hated when he called Once-ler 'beanpole', it sounded mocking in a mean way to her for some reason.

"As a matter of fact, I am. I'm gonna join him and we're going to sell his Thneed!" The Lorax pushed his hands at her in an 'O.K, O.K, calm down' fashion. "I'm just telling you to be careful. The amount of tomatoes he comes back with could be on your face next time." She dipped her feet in the water, "Well don't go out of your way to worry about Me, Lorax. I'm Fine, I've Always Been Fine, and I Always WILL Be Fine! I wouldn't want to put you out for concern about me. You done enough to Once and I already. Wouldn't want you getting your moustache in a twist anyway." She dove in, leaving the guardian walking away. She didn't like him, he knew that, and she made it clear she did not want to improve that, 'hatred', in any way.

That night, Melina had a dream. In it she was walking out of the house and near some trees. Everything was beautiful and fresh and she turned around to find Once-ler there in a green suit and top hat with what looked to be a Truffula flower in his collar of the suit. He took some dark glasses off and extended his hand. "May I have this dance?" She didn't know what he was talking about, but she nodded and he quickly pulled her closer to him. Hand-in-hand, they waltzed. Round and round, romantically in the daylight with no one to spy on them. A gloved hand snuck around her back and pulled her closer. Her hands now on his chest she looked up at him and they kissed romantically.

"I love you." He whispered, she felt like crying, "I love you t-" She opened her eyes, something felt different. He was all black, she pulled away breaking the kiss and stared at him. She then realised the sky was black too. He looked at her confused. "What's wrong?" "Look at your hands!" She screamed, he did so. His gloved hands wriggled and sharp black claws came bursting out. Next, his hands grasped at his sides and his head fell down. Melina watched in horror. His head came up and looked at her. Cold, dead black eyes with blood red pupils stared her down. He smiled an evil grin, horrible sharp nightmarish teeth presented themselves.

She couldn't speak, she was too scared. She looked around. The trees were crumbling to stumps, the grass was dying all around her, the river was filled with thick black muddy slime and their house was in ruins, burnt almost. She looked back a him. "Aw, what? Don't love me anymore?" He staggered towards her. Every cell in her body screamed out 'RUN!' But she couldn't, she was frozen on the spot. He was so close to her. His breath, once warm and sweet smelling, now wreaked of death. He leaned in closer, inches away for her face. He put his sunnies on, "Too scared Melina? Too scared to see what I am? What I truly am inside? This is how I will be soon, and I will chew this world up and spit it out...staring with You." He let out and blood chilling laugh, she gathered what courage she had.

"NO! You're not Once! You Can't be Once! He would never do this! He would never create this abomination! And he would Never hurt me!" He laughed again, "Don't you see Melina? I WILL. When the time comes, the Beast will be let out. I'LL be let out, and you'll be the first on my list." She raised a fist. "No...I...won't!" She threw a punch but he caught it. Her eyes widened "Foolish girl." Thick muddy slime came from his claws. "You can't BEAT the inevitable!" It consumed her and the last thing she shouted out before all sound was gone from her was, "ONCE!"

She screamed it out loud. Once-ler shook her to wake her up. She gasped and opened her eyes, shooting straight up and hugging him. "Oh Once, you're O.K!" She began to sob. "Yes, of course I'm O.K, but are you?" She pulled back from him, "Well," After hearing all about it, Once-ler hugged her. "Melina, I would Never do that. I love you, and I would never EVER hurt you or the valley. I made a promise remember?" She grasped on tighter. "Yeah, but it was so real. So frightening." "Well, you don't have to be scared now because I'm here. I'm here." She was scared to sleep on her own again so she slept cuddled up in His arms.

That following morning, Melina tried to forget the horrible nightmare and put it all behind so she could sell the Thneed will joy. But she couldn't shake the fear of what he-it, said "You can't BEAT the inevitable!" Just thinking about it sent shivers down her spine. But thankfully, after sitting on Melvin for the trip into town talking to Once-ler about random things, she felt a lot better. When they got to town, Once-ler took his guitar and got up on the gazebo. He playd a few chords, but instantly tomatoes were present. "Stop!" She jumped in front of him. Appalled.

"Hey get out the way lady!" One person shouted, Melina looked around, she saw a nun in a tomato line. "A NUN is in on this too? You've got to be kidding me!" The nun took a tomato and aimed it at Once-ler, who was standing behind Melina. "Oh no, no, lady. You put that tomato down Right Now!" It flung through the air and hit Melina smack-dab on the right cheek. She wiped it off with a fist, and stalked over to the nun. "Do that again, I DARE you!" She pointed in the nuns face. A womaniser-looking ex-jock boy came up behind her, "Don't worry baby, I know what'll cheer you up." She brushed a hand away, eyes still glaring at the nun. "I'm not for sale." His hand came back, "Are you sure?" Her flaming eyes turned from the nun to the boy, she spoke calmly, "I said," she grabbed his arm, one had on his wrist one hand on his elbow, flattening it. "I'm-NOT-For-Sale!" She kicked him in the face and a group of people ganged up on her. She fought her way through, "Know why?" She jumped off a big guy and landed on her right fingers kicking the same guy as she jumped onto the roof of the gazebo.

"Because I'm HIS!" She pointed at Once-ler who looked surprised at her statement and what she had just done. One person shouted out, "That's disgusting!" "Get a life!" She called back, "And maybe some new material while you're at it!" She jumped down and took Once-ler's hand. "Shall we?" He played his tune and Melina demonstrated how useful the Thneed could be. But still no one bought it. While walking home, Once-ler finally exploded. "Wow! I didn't know you could do that!" She laughed, "You'd be surprised at what I can do. Actually you'd be amazed at what I COULD do when I was an immortal." He chuckled, "Yeah. So where'd you learn that stuff?"

"If you can believe it, I was quite the rebel when I was a teen." He looked at her. Melina, one of the sweetest girl he'd ever met, a rebel? No way. "Really?" "Oh yeah, I dunno, I guess I kind of just lost my way. I wrecked stuff, not expensive stuff or anything, just stuff that could be replaced. Anyway, I was a total loose cannon until I hit a young teen number, 1016." "What happened?" "My mum died." Once-ler felt bad for asking, "She was always there for me to hold me together and when she wasn't there, I just kind of stayed straight because I thought it would make her proud." She was silent for a while, "But hey, I'm just glad THAT part of my life is over. Now I can start a fresh one with you, your Thneed, Melvin." She rubbed the mules head, "And your adorable bunny Jammies." They both laughed.

That scene had always been in the back of his mind, what she did, what she declared, what she Admitted. Everytime something came close to her, her laughter was the first thing to jump into his mind. The first Positive thing anyway. The old man sat on his bed, going through his paper findings for the millionth time. He looked at one of the photos in the chest he had saved, he had saved all the photos of her but this one, he was thinking of encasing and putting on his bedside drawers. It was a picture of them all dressed up. He in his green suit and top hat with glasses on, and her in a beautiful red sparkly dress with a red and black masquerade mask on, a Thneed wrapped around her arms and a painted black curl in the middle of her forehead. It was taken on the 'congratulations party' of when Once-ler's Thneed took off.

The party was held in town hall. They were both smiling at the camera. His left arm held her close to him while she had an arm across his back. They looked so happy together. She had been so proud of him. Actually, she had been the only one who was Truly proud of him. He still remembered some of her words that night, "Oh Once, I'm so PROUD of you! Just think, after tonight, we can have everything for each other! Your Thneed is gonna make the world so beautiful!" She had said other wonderful things, but they stuck out in his memory the most. He also remembered that night was important for another reason. It was the night he-"Beanpole!" He panicked and stuffed everything in the chest.

The Lorax barged into the room. "You've got some explaining to do!" "There IS such a thing as knocking y'know." Said Once-ler, annoyed at his entrance. "Where is your mate, Melina? What happened here? Why are you hiding newspaper articles and other things in a chest?" "Don't go through MY business!" The guardian started to get cross, "Why? Afraid to answer a few questions?" The old man glared at him, "Go Away. I don't want any poking Around right now." He got up and picked up The Lorax, walking to the door, "I need to know these things! Lots have changed since I've been away, where's your companion?" "I don't know!"

He plopped The Lorax onto the ground outside the door, "But I think she's Dead." All emotion dropped from both of them. "And you know what? It just teaches me something." The Lorax raised an eyebrow, "Really, what?" "It teaches me to never get my hopes up." He shut the door. Beanpole seemed so sad, The Lorax knew he wouldn't be acting this way without a reason. Maybe a different approach is called for. An approach that might lighten his mood a bit.

Meanwhile back at Teds house, he was sitting in the living room watching tv when he heard a knock at the door. Ted got scared, he deepened his voice to sound mean and rough. "Who's there?" "It's me." A gruff voice replied. "Lorax?" His voice returned to normal. "Yeah, open up." Hesitantly Ted did so and as quick as lightning something sprinted in the door a sat on the stairs. Ted shut the door, approached it and froze completely when he saw that it was his attacker. She looked at him, soaking wet. It was raining again. "I'm looking for Once, you know where he is. I just need directions." "I-I don't know who you're talking about." He stammered. The girl got up and squeezed her hair out. "Please tell me. I need to know."

"You know, I was thinking we'd have a party. Just for partying's sake. And anyway who needs them? I can just get a job or something to earn some cash so we can start the business together." Once-ler thought it was a great idea, ever since that whole defending thing in town a few weeks ago, Melina had been trying to help him out so much with his Thneed. It was night-time, and they were sitting on the bed. "You don't have to get a job Mel, the Thneed will sell fine." "O.K. O.K, just if you need the moolah, it's no prob for me." He gave her a sly smile, "Everything's no prob for you! Your so foxy that way." Melina wrapped her arms around his shoulders near his neck, "Oh shut up and kiss me." They kissed, their 'relationship' had been getting stronger since a few weeks ago too.

However one day, Once-ler came out of his house and was jumped by Melina from a tree. They landed on top of each other but started to roll down a curve and into the water. Once-ler started to panic as he didn't catch his breath and was afraid something would happen. Melina shook him, her cheeks puffed. He could feel her strong legs around him. She held his face and in an instant kissed him. He could feel air puff into his lungs. Melina had always enjoyed water, so she had taught herself to hold her breath for ages. Breathing into Once, was a small price. His hands had suddenly wrapped around her neck. This was a moment that would forever live in both of them. They soon separated and swam to the surface.

Both took in deep breaths, Melina hugged him. Which sent them down into the water a bit more. "That was fun." He said, she laughed and let go. "Ya think?" "Why don't we go for a longer swim? After all, it is still the morning." She smiled and both swam away from shore. They would stay under the water for a few minutes, kissing to pass on oxygen. It lasted for the rest of the day until the sky was twilight. Then they got close to the bottom. Melina kissed Once-ler and suddenly felt him jerk. She looked down to see his eyes wide open and blood swirling around them. Panicking, she grabbed him and, with the help of some fish, pulled him to shore. She turned him over to find a piece of metal sticking out of his back. When they had hit the bottom someone must have dropped a boat or spike or something down there and it had punctured him.

Ripping it out, she gathered a mound of her hair and covered the wound, trying to prevent the bleeding. "Help! Help me!" She screamed. She picked him up, blood in her hands and hair, and dragged him to the house. She kicked open the door and The Lorax rushed up, horrified at this. "What happened?" "He got semi-impaled! Help me!" They dragged him onto the floor and Melina gathered up string, and some of Once-ler's knitting stuff. "What are you doing?" "I'm gonna seal the wound up, the metal wasn't rusted or anything, just wet and smooth. If I can stitch him up and bandage him, he should be O.K." "Shouldn't he get to a hospital?" She whacked away his hand. "NO! He'll never make it! I need to fix him myself or I'm going with him." He didn't approve, "But Melina-" "I'm going WITH Him."

So Melina set to work, she stitched up the wounds and used a spare blanket for coverage. They lay him to rest, he had pulled through. Melina stayed the whole night curled up in a chair holding his hand. When he awoke in the morning, he found himself to be covered with a blanket and Melina holding his hand. He nudged her and she immediately latched onto him. "ONCE! You're O.K!" "What happened?" She sighed, "You got stabbed by a piece of metal in the water. But I managed to stitch you back up. Thankfully it didn't reach your heart or spine or anything, it just tore though some flesh." He smiled, "I'm just glad You're O.K." Hearing that, she kissed him.

That had been the toughest thing they had went through. It took a few months for the wound to heal, he would always have a scar on his back, but every night Melina would kiss it better. When he was fully able to leave the house he got straight to back selling, but after a few days he finally gave up. "That's it! You know what? I'm-I'm done with this thing!" Unbeknown to him, Melina had came into town to check on him, but she walked in on a very bad moment. He stalked around the corner, Melina followed him. "My family was right. I quit!" He threw away the Thneed, Melina wanted to get it but she had to talk to Once-ler first. "Your family Is NOT Right!" He spun around, "Melina?" "Your family are wrong, these PEOPLE are wrong, they're ALL Wrong! You are an incredible inventor! An incredible person and have an incredible heart! You don't need Any of these people! But I do need you. C'mon. Lets go home and be miserable Together."

He kissed her head, "What would I do without you?" "I haven't the slightest idea." She tapped his nose with a finger and both set off home. Right then and there, Melina was certain that they would live out the rest of their lives together in the forest, who knows, maybe even start a family. She wanted to talk to Once-ler about it but decided to wait until things cooled down. When they got to the house, Melina noticed The Lorax and some animals playing cards. "Hey! Guys!" She called to them and jogged over.

"Hey, where's you Thneed? Did you sell it?" Melina felt bad for Once, he didn't sell it, in fact he just threw it away. "Hey, yeah no. No I didn't sell it. Turns out its ahead of its time I guess." "Hey, you gave it your best shot right? What more can you do?" Was Melina dreaming? Or was The Lorax ACTUALLY being Sympathetic towards Once-ler? "Come on, take a seat. We'll deal you in." The two humans smiled, "Ah, what are we playing?" Melina crossed her legs while Once-ler still knelt. "I'm playing poker, he's playing go fish and I think he's hungry." A duck ate a card off one of the fish, causing Melina to chuckle.

What more could a girl want? She had the perfect life, the perfect 'hubby', the perfect home, I guess the perfect neighbours and ultimately the perfect life. So what if The Thneed didn't sell? Once was smart he'll probably think up some thing new. Something people wouldn't be so blind to. The next morning, Once-ler and Melina cooked up some pancakes. Melina only had two servings, while the animals had what? Seven servings? Once-ler turned around. "Who's up for ninths?" I stand corrected. The fat bear waved his hands around in the air, but lets face it, his stomach's probably a back hole anyway. Melina whispered to Once, "I'll bet if he keeps this up, we could make Bacon outta him."

Once-ler laughed, "Alright, pass em over." Said The Lorax, Melina raised an eyebrow and smiled, "How are you guys even thinking about ninths anyway?" The Lorax shrugged. Suddenly the house rumbled. Once-ler held onto his pancakes while Melina held onto him. It was very touching. "What's going on?" Asked Once-ler. "I don't know!" Replied Melina. Everyone rushed outside. Literally dozens of people were emerging form the hill, lead by a girl wearing the Thneed as a hat. "That's a lot of people." Commented Once-ler.

Everyone was chanting about the Thneed, and how it was some thing that everybody needs. Melina felt a bit angry. "NOW they want it?!" The crowd gather around her and Once-ler and shove cash at them, yelling for more. She saw how it made Once-ler happy so it made her happy. The people lifted them up and Once-ler cheered, "Aw yeah! We're in business baby!" Just for the sake of it Melina cried, "Woo Hoo!" She looked at him and Once-ler made a telephone call.

"Mum. Hey, it's me! I told you I was gonna be success! You gotta bring the whole family down here. We're gonna be rich!" Melina didn't exactly like the idea of his rotten family coming down to paradise. What of they ruin it? Nah, he'd never let that happen. He looked down to The Lorax who was frowning at him. "What? I'm gonna need all the Help I can get. Don't worry." Melina hugged him. "Hey, you still got me!" The crowd set them down. "And what would I be without you?" They rubbed foreheads together. The crowd 'awed' as in, "oh that's so cute". They kissed and the crowd cheered. Melina managed to shout over them to Once-ler. "Remember what I said about blind? Forget it!"

Oh Melina, I feel so sorry for you. That nightmare was rough! Say-what-you-think!


	6. One Event After Another

You're right El Ohkin, there IS a storm coming! But don't worry, everything will kink-out. (Winks) I do NOT own the songs shown. They belong to Bratz, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

It was the perfect morning. Humming fish swimming about the water, bar-ba-loots playing, The Lorax leaving them alone, and Melina happily working on Thneed blueprints for Once-ler while he made breakfast. "You happy about your family coming?" asked Melina, she felt a little upset by the fact that Once-ler had requested them to come to the valley. "Yeah, I wanna show them that I'm not a failure, and that I'll finally amount to something. They've never really had much faith in that so I'm gonna prove them wrong." "Mm, I know. Earning the respect of a parent or family members isn't the easiest. I should know, I've tried. My mother was more confident in me than my father, and every moment I saw him before I was locked away I tried to make him proud, but he just wouldn't go for it."

She and Once-ler had a lot in common. "Well you don't have to worry about that with me, I'm already impressed by you." She smiled and nodded. A rumbling engine sound erupted from out of no where and both rushed to the window. An RV had just stopped, Melina took a breath. 'Hold it together.' She told herself, this was it. Once-ler grabbed her hand and happily ran outside. A huge man-looking woman stepped out. "What a dump." Hatred emerged from Melina, but she held it in and just watched the RV to see who else would come out. 'Just like a painted doll,' she told herself, be calm and sweet. The two twins that she threatened came charging out, one of them spotted a Bar-ba-loot. "Hey Chet, check this out. Go long!" He threw the poor thing like a football and the other one went after it. He kept yelling, "I got it, I got it!"

But he hit a tree before he could actually get it. "Idiot." Thought Melina. The bear safely landed on his face, so I guess it wasn't a Total loss. "Got it!" He announced. The other one, Bret, turned to Once-ler and Melina but didn't really notice her. "He totally ran into that tree!" He slapped Once-ler's hand and ran off. Once-ler clutched it, "Ow!" Melina took in her hands and cradled it. "You delicate flower." She smiled. They both looked at the RV, Once-ler's mother emerged stepping on a smaller man, Uncle Ubb, as a stepping stool. "Geez, can't this woman use an actual step?" Pondered Melina in her head.

"Oncie, is that you?" She seemed happy, "Mum!" He seemed truly happy, but I guess even if your family don't treat you well, you still love them because their your genetic connection. She walked up to him, Melina saw out of the corner of her eyes that The Lorax was disgusted by the dead animal hanging off her neck. Melina too was repulsed by it, but she still kept her eyes on the woman, one insult to Once-ler and it's lights out. "There he is! There's my suddenly successful son!" Suck-up. She kissed him, which inside, made Melina wanna kick her teeth in. "We always knew you'd make it, right?" The family nodded. Suck-UPS.

Uncle Ubb gave him a hug. "Hey! I love this guy!" Melian decided to let that one go, he seemed more of a pleaser than a Richie like Once-ler's mum. "But you always said I wouldn't amount to anything remember?" Melina felt an unbearable amount of pity. "Oh hush your mouth, I was just trying to motivate you." 'You suck-up Richie B!' The words exploded from within Melina, she didn't usually think that about a person but this was someone who was changing how they treated someone because they are more better and successful than them. "I'm really glad you clarified that, because it actually hurt my feelings for a really long time."

Uncle Ubb stopped hugging him and Melina placed a hand on his right shoulder to which he took with his right hand. "Anyway, ah, you're all here, you all work for me. And that's cool so let's get to work!" Melina's hand dropped and held his right hand. His mum turned to his brothers, "Bret, Chet set up the RV!" One of them was about to throw another bear. "Would you stop throwing that bear?" He dropped the bear and both ran to the RV. Melina went over and cradled it in her arms, walking back to Once-ler. "Is it O.K?" He asked, "Yeah, he's fine. He just can't go near those two again, O.K?" She said smiling, he returned the smile. One of the boys pushed the button and the RV expanded.

Melina didn't think they could fit so much stuff inside one van. She didn't really like the idea of that towering over their house but was still sure that Once-ler would talk to them if things started to get out of hand. However, The Lorax was horrified at this and stalked up to them. Melina put the bear down, just in we she had to get involved. "No, no, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out, back up, stop, don't move an inch. Nobody's moving in here. You gotta go, goodbye." More like, BAD-bye. "So who invited the giant furry peanut?" Oh yeah, Badbye it is!

"You call me a peanut huh? I'll go right up your nose!" Not a bad comeback. There looked like there was gonna be a fight, where only one will come out alive. Judging by size It'd probably be the man-woman. The two humans stood in between them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You wouldn't hit a woman." The Lorax looked surprised. "That's a woman?" I'm afraid so. "O.K everyone, cool it. Lets not get off on the wrong foot here. Um, family this is my friend—" "Acquaintance." "-Acquaintance, very good acquaintance, The Lorax. He speaks for the trees." He was about to introduce Melina, but was interrupted. "That's right. And on behalf of the trees-get out!" His family gasped, Once-ler pushed him aside while Melina followed and stood next to Once-ler.

"Will you just, be nice? This is my family. And I'm gonna their AND Melina's help if my-our company is going to get bigger." Melina felt touched, "Our?" "Bigger?" She hugged Once-ler almost ignoring The Lorax's question. "Yeah! This isn't some rinky-dink operation anymore." Melina let go to listen and let him explain. "I've got plans, big plans. A vision...of a world filled with Thneeds. It's gonna be huge!" The Lorax seemed...empty. "Which way does a tree fall?" "Uh...down?" "They always go down." Added in Melina, "A tree falls the way it leans, be careful which way you lean." He walked off. Melina felt a little worried. "What do you think he means by that?" "I don't know. But don't worry I'm sure we'll be fine. C'mon! Meet my family." He led her back where his family waited.

"Everyone this is Melina. Melina this is my family." She waved. "Where'd you meet her Oncie?" Asked his mother. "Uh, on the road here. We just met and clicked." She took his left hand in hers. One of his brothers repeated, "Once-ler's in love! Once-ler's in love!" "Chet!" His mother shouted, and he stopped. "What a pretty name." She continued. "Thank you." Replied Melina, EXACTLY like a painted doll. "Oh Oncie, we stopped in town for directions to where you live and someone gave us these." She handed them two letters. One with both their names on it. "Thanks mum. Um, we'll be inside O.K? You guys just get settled." They dashed inside.

They torn open the letters and Melina read hers out loud,

"Dear Miss Melina,

We are happy to invite you and Mr Once-ler to a party in town hall to celebrate the Thneed. We would be thankful if you would come and be the honoured guests at tonight's celebration. Party will start 6:00 and end at 9:00.

Sincerely, Thneedville."

"Mine says the same. What do you make of it?" They looked at each other and nodded. "I think tonight, We're Going To A Party!" They cheered and hugged each other.

"I'm telling you, I don't know who 'Once' is! What do you want from me?" The girl sighed, this kid stemmed pretty clueless about it. "O.K look, you may not know MY name for him but you know where he is. I just want to find him. And I didn't mean to frighten you before. But when you wake up in a strange house under a strange bed, you gotta be careful." Ted felt a little relieved. "Right, what's your name?" She folded her arms, but she still looked non-angry. "My name's Crus." "Croos?" "Yeah...Crus." She seemed sad, "O.K, I know I probably don't deserve to be asking this, but mind if I crash here? At least until I get back on my feet? I'll sleep in the attic." Ted thought about it, "O.K, just don't harm me in my sleep Alright?" "No prob." She hugged him and walked up the stairs.

She managed to put together a blow-up mattress and a pillow but she still wasn't comfortable. Truth was, MELINA couldn't sleep without her Once next to her. She didn't know where he was, she didn't know if he was living in that house or if he moved away or if was even still around! Melina looked at her hands, sheer perfection not a wrinkle or bump in them. She only hoped Once-ler still looked as good. She rolled over and faced the candle she had lit. She began to sob, "Oh Once...I miss you." She cried herself to sleep, images of him burned bright in her dreams.

He was even more lonely. What else had he left to lose? Virtually nothing, that's the point. "Beanpole?" The Lorax slowly entered the room. "I'm sorry about earlier I didn't realise that...things were so bad. But here." The Lorax held up a small whitish butter looking log on a plate. Once-ler raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" "It's a type of cream that acts as a painkiller. It'll get you through the night. I just need an arm." Once-ler rolled up his left sleeve and The Lorax rubbed all the stuff on it. "This stuff is old, and it's all that's left. I thought you deserved it after what you've been through." Once-ler sighed and mumbled, "I've been through a whole lot more." When The Lorax was finally done rubbing, he walked up to the door.

"Pain is a terrible thing beanpole, this will help. Trust me." Once-ler smiled but when the door was shut he sighed, "Nobody can help me." He had no idea where Melina was but he had a pretty good idea. She was probably gone. He went to bed, it was worth a shot to let The Lorax's butter stuff work. And what better way to help it than rest? But still, he wasn't happy. So he decided some thing familiar might help his sadness.

"I'll wish upon a star,

and hope it takes me far,

I'll make a wish,

and blow it a kiss.

If it doesn't come true,

it wouldn't matter 'cause I have you." He felt a strong pang of emotional pain.

"So hush now my sweet,

for soon you'll meet,

The person just right for you,

they'll know it too.

You'll find it in your dreams,

in your mind that gleams.

Have faith in yourself,

I know you will.

Let them nurse you back to health,

as you sit on the window sill."

5:45 in the afternoon, and Melina was getting ready. Once-ler was already ready. He had already bought and made an outfit for the party. A green suit and a top hat with a Truffula flower on his collar part. "Melina are you ready?" Melina was just putting the finishing touches on her painted forehead. She had put up a curtain over around the bed so she could have privacy and room for getting ready. "Yeah," she stepped out and Once-ler stared in awe. She had a beautiful red sparkly dress on with a Thneed wrapped around her shoulders, black boots on, a red and black masquerade mask in her hands and a black curl painted on her forehead. She looked stunning.

"Wow, I didn't know people could look so good." She blushed, "Thanks, um, is your family coming?" "No, they don't particularly want to go out and I think this would be good for us to get some 'just-us' time." Melina felt better, going to a party with Once-ler's family wasn't exactly high on her wish list. They rode on Melvin there, they tied him up in the park not far away from the building and took the red carpeted front entrance. As soon as they were seen, people went wild. Melina wouldn't admit it out loud, but she kind of liked all the attention. When they got inside, there was a band playing.

"So you wanna change the world

What are you waitin for

Say your gonna start right now

What are you waiting for

It only takes one voice, so come on now and shout it out, give a little more

What are you waiting for."

The crowd applauded. "Thank you thank you." The lead singer, Rosemary Wilkes, replied. She had short red hair barely touching her shoulders and dressed all in denim. "Now my band and I would like to thank you for listening to our song here and congratulate the maker of the wonderful product 'The Thneed', the whole reason for this little shin-dig; Mr Once-ler!" Everyone turned to him and clapped loud. He chuckled a bit. "Thank you, but don't forget my partner here, Melina. She helped me to keep selling." The crowd applauded louder. Melina gave Once-ler a side hug. "Aw, I love a good scene. Now, me and my band are gonna take a break, but we'll be back soon!"

Melina had an idea, she snuck backstage to talk with the lead singer. When they came back on Rosemary announced, "O.K. Listen up everyone, we've had a special request to play a song. Hit it." The music started and everyone listened.

"Is this a dream?

If it is

Please don't wake me from this high

I'd become comfortably numb

Until you opened up my eyes

To what it's like

When everything's right

I can't believe

You found me

When no one else was lookin'

How did you know just where I would be?

Yeah, you broke through

All of my confusion

The ups and the downs

And you still didn't leave

I guess that you saw what nobody could see

You found me

You found me"

Once-ler looked at Melina and she smiled, signalling that she was the requester. Had took her hands and they waltzed.

"So, here we are

That's pretty far

When you think of where we've been

No going back

I'm fading out

All that has faded me within

You're by my side

Now everything's fine

I can't believe

You found me

When no one else was lookin'

How did you know just where I would be?

Yeah, you broke through

All of my confusion

The ups and the downs

And you still didn't leave

I guess that you saw what nobody could see

You found me

You found me"

Melina stared deep into Once-ler's eyes, so soft and blue. He too stared into hers, from all she'd been through she still managed to keep a sunny side to her.

"And I was hiding

'Til you came along

And showed me where I belong

You found me

When no one else was lookin'

How did you know?

How did you know?

You found me

When no one else was lookin'

How did you know just where I would be?

Yeah, you broke through

All of my confusion

The ups and the downs

And you still didn't leave

I guess that you saw what nobody could see

You found me

(You found me)

(When no one else was lookin')

You found me

(How did you know just where I would be?)

You broke through

All of my confusion

The ups and the downs

And you still didn't leave

I guess that you saw what nobody could see

The good and the bad

And the things in between

You found me

You found me."

"Thank you!" the lead singer finished and the crowd applauded. Once-ler and Melina stopped dancing and she looked at him. "You found me, Once. When no one else WAS looking. Thank you." They hugged. "No," They parted, "You found ME Mel, if it wasn't for you I would have give up on this long ago." He walked over to a table and pulled something out from under it. A box and handed it to Melina. It was a baby German Shepard. Melina gasped in delight. "For you. Since I have Melvin and you don't really have an animal companion. It's a he." Melina smiled, "I'll call him Cruiso." "Croo-so huh?" "Yup." He smiled and put a hand on her cheek.

"I lo-" "Shh." Melina shushed him and put a finger on his lips. "Wait, just...wait right here." She handed Cruiso to him and dashed off into the crowd. Once-ler sighed, so close. The lights dimmed and a spotlight appeared on stage to which Melina walked into! "Evening everyone. Every one having a good night?" The cheered. "What I'm hearing is a muffled sound." They laughed, "What I'm sensing is that that translates to 'We're good!' Now, there is something I want to play. Once, this is for you." She took a deep breath.

"When you look back on times we had

I hope you smile

And know that through the good and through the bad

I was on your side when nobody could hold us down

We claimed the brightest star

And we, we came so far

And no they won't forget

Whenever you remember times gone by

Remember how we held our heads so high

When all this world was there for us

And we believed that we could touch the sky

Whenever you remember, I'll be there

Remember how we reached that dream together

Whenever you remember

When you think back on all we've done

I hope you're proud

When you look back and see how far we've come

It was our time to shine

And nobody could hold us down

They thought they'd see us fall

But we, we stood so tall

And no we won't forget

Whenever you remember times gone by

Remember how we held our heads so high

When all this world was there for us

And we believed that we could touch the sky

Whenever you remember, I'll be there

Remember how we reached that dream together

Whenever you remember

Yeah, Oh

We claimed the brightest star

And we, we came so far

You know that we, we showed them all

And no they won't forget

Yeah

Whenever you remember times gone by

Remember how we held our heads so high

When all this world was there for us

And we believed that we could touch the sky

Whenever you remember, I'll be there

Remember how we reached that dream together

Whenever you remember

Whenever you remember

Oh, whenever you remember"

The crowd went nuts and Melina jumped off the stage and ran to Once-ler who stood there. Amazed, frozen, happy, slightly emotional, and a whole bunch of other emotions. "That was beautiful Melina." She smiled, "Thanks. I did it for you Once." Once-ler smiled, handed Cruiso to Melina, and knelt down. He pulled out a small box and held it in front of her. "Melina," her eyes lit up, "would you do me the honour of becoming..." Her opened the box, "My wife?" She felt beyond words. The ring was so beautiful. It was silver and had a big sapphire stone in the middle with silver type claws latching at it's side. She extended her hand and he slipped it on.

The crowd cheered yet again and Melina examined the ring on her finger. Once-ler stood up, "Oh Once! Yes! Yes I do!" She hugged him tight. "I love you Melina." He said, her heart fluttered with joy as she let go. "I love you too!" She kissed him. On their 'Melvin ride' back to the house Melina kept looking a her ring and saying how much she adored it and Once-ler. When they got in the house, Melina set Cruiso down and lay on the bed. "Once, you are the most perfect guy in the world." He smiled and took off his hat. He walked over and crawled on top of her. "And so are you." They kissed. Things lead more and more to one thing, and they both knew what it was. "Once, do you know what you're doing?" He smiled, "More or less." They kissed again, "It's just...I've never done this before." He smiled again. "Neither have I." She smiled with him and the two continued. The rest of their 'engagement night' went really well, truly a night to remember for them both.

However years later after having that reminiscing dream, Once-ler awoke and felt strange. He looked out the window. Everything was nice and fresh and natural. He got up and walked over, as he always does of a morning, to the body-length mirror and froze at what he saw. A scream erupted from his room.

I love those songs! The proposal! Say-What-You-Think!


	7. Until My Dying Days

I'm Writing El Ohkin! Hope everyone likes!

"I'm young?!" Once-ler was ecstatic. He stared closer at the mirror and rubbed his face to make sure. He screamed again and raced downstairs to find The Lorax sitting at the dining table reading the paper. "Oh hey Beanpole, wow you're looking better." Once-ler ran up and grabbed The Lorax by the arms. "What did you give me?!" "Whoa whoa, calm down-" Once-ler started to shake him. "HOW Can I Calm Down?! I'm youthful again!" He let go, "I thought you might Want to be young again. Y'know get a second chance?" "No! That is FAR from it! Being young and getting a second chance is the Last thing I want!" The Lorax felt confused. "Is this because of Melina?"

Once-ler felt nothingness. "I think she's fine, she's just-" "You weren't there! You lifted away! You didn't see what happened, I did!...she's gone, and she's never coming back." "But beanpole I think-" "I don't want to hear it!" Once-ler stormed to the stairs but looked back to The Lorax, "Un-like most people, I was looking forward to the end. Because it meant I would see her again. And now I've been denied!" He slammed the staircase door and ran up to his room. It could have happened any day now, he could've been away from the pain and now he'd have to wait longer. To be with her.

Once-ler's company grew bigger and bigger. They eventually packed up their original house and built a new one. Bigger, better, richer and spacier. Melina and Once-ler got a huge room with a big bed to themselves. Melina's favourite hobby, other than knitting more Thneed's to help Once, was planning their wedding. One day, Melina walked out onto the balcony and dropped her notepad. She dashed down the stairs to get it. She picked it up in blackish dirt, looked around and froze at what she saw. Death, decay and destruction. All the valley had been destroyed and cut. Her heart stopped. Once was just chopping down trees, not picked the tufts off. His family. Of Course! They're too blame! They cracked him under the pressure! No one can just become destructive from nice all by themselves!

She couldn't believe it, she could feel tears threatening her eyes. Her notebook clutched to her chest, she ran up the stairs and dashed out the two big doors that said in gold 'The Once-ler and Melina' inscribed on it. She dashed past Once-ler who tried to grab her arm. "Melina, what's wrong? Are you O.K?" She ignored him and ran past him while he went into his office to think. Melina dashed into their bedroom and collapsed on the sheets, sobbing hard. She was horrifed, in shock, angry, and just plain old sad. They had been living there for quite a few months, and she'd Never noticed it before. HOW could she not notice something like that? She sobbed into the pillow. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up.

It was The Lorax, looking as sad as she did. Unexpectedly, she hugged him. "I'm so sorry I didn't see this before. I was so consumed with Once-ler and the future that I couldn't see what was in font of me the whole time! It's all my fault!" The Lorax stroked the hair on her back. "It's not your fault, Beanpole just can't see what's really going on." She let go of him, "But I could've stopped this! I could have convinced him not to call his family or to not chop down trees but instead I was so blind!" "It's O.K, we just need him to see what's going on." She buried her face in her hands on her knees. "But how?" She looked up, he was gone. "Lorax?" She sobbed harder, until Once-ler walked in.

"Melina? What wrong?" "Once, just look outside!" He didn't. "Why are you upset? Everything is going great! We've got a big house and luxury." He took her chin with his right gloved hand, "And money that matches your beautiful eyes perfectly." She turned her head away. "I need to be alone Once...Please?" He nodded, "Alright." She lay down. What was she going to do? How could she get Once-ler to see? She didn't know, but tomorrow things were gonna change.

Once-ler walked into his office and sat at his desk, examining the mini Thneedville city he and Melina had built the other day. Melina walked into the room, her face half sad, Half something else. She leaned against the wall and stared down at the ground with her arms folded. "So how are things?" Once-ler spun around and Melina looked up to see The Lorax sitting on the railing. "What are you doing here?" Asked Once-ler, The Lorax spun around. "Happy now? Do you feel that hole deep down inside you? Or do you still want more?" Melina felt like crying again, but held it in and took a deep breath. She hadn't really seen it before. All the time what she saw in Once-ler was that same sweetness that she had fallen in love with, but what she saw now was some thing she didn't want to. Greed, selfishness, almost Evil. The truth...was ugly. And she didn't want to see it.

Once-ler got up. "Look, if you've got a problem with what I'm doing, why haven't you used your, quote unquote 'powers' to stop me?" Melina fought off her emotions, she felt like walking out. The Lorax sighed, "I told you that's not how this works." "Right I forgot, you're a fraud. I need you to get out. Now." Melina felt empty inside, and she was pretty sure she knew what was missing. Him. He was missing, the original him. Not the green suit. She watched The Lorax jump off the railing, "Why? Do I make you fee, uncomfortable? Remind you of the promises you made? The man you used to be?" Once-ler started together angry, "He's right Once," Once-ler spun around. "What?" She walked up to him.

"Just look outside, everything is ruined, polluted even! You need to stop. I'm sorry but that's what gotta happen." Once-ler didn't look pleased, "So now you're siding with him?" "What? No. No I'm not, but he does have a point. Things Have changed and they're not for the better. You need to stop." Once-ler folded his arms. "Fine, if you want to think that way...you can just leave." She was taken aback. "What?" "You heard me. Leave! Get out! Go Away!" Melina felt her eyes burn. "No, Once. No. This isn't you." "It IS me! And I don't like you taking sides over mine." He pushed her back "Just. Leave." Tears fell from her face and she ran out of the office crying with her face buried in her hands.

The Lorax looked grim. "Do you see what you're doing? You're pushing things away. You're pushing HER Away. For greed, for money, for fame. When is this going to end?" Once-ler didn't like that. "You know what you just just Shut your moustache. My conscience is clear." He began backing The Lorax down the stairs. Melina ran down the front of the building and backed up against the wall, crying her eyes out. She was wiping her eyes when she heard Once-ler talking. She followed his voice until she came to a corner near the stairs where she saw Once-ler backing down The Lorax. "I have done nothing illegal, I have my rights and I intend to keep on biggering and biggering and turning more Truffula trees into Thneeds!" The Lorax fell to the ground. Melina ran and helped him up, her face soaking from her eyes.

"And nothing is going to stop me!" Melina, for the first time, felt scared of Once-ler. They heard something and turned to see a machine with an oversized axe slice a tree. Melina felt pain in her and fell from her knees, clutching her stomach and chest. The Lorax placed a hand on her back whilst looking at the tree. "Well that's it. The very last one." Melina knelt again and cried more silently as she looked at the tree and at Once-ler's face. He and seen the truth. "That may stop you." Melina hugged The Lorax and cried more. Once-ler stood up. His expression told all. It had all been ruined, every last stump there was only one to blame. It was all his fault.

Melina finally stood up and wiped the tears off her face. She was still sad but had to try and stop crying. There would be time for that later. Just then Once-ler's families RV stopped in front of Once-ler. The window rolled down and Once-ler mother was there but she didn't look him in the eye. "Son you have let me down." She turned to one of the twins. "Bret you are now my favourite child." With that they sped away. Leaving Once-ler in dust. Even in sadness, his family still didn't care. It was then that Once-ler finally realised that they had used him. He turned behind him and saw The Lorax approach with a giant crowd of animals behind him and Melina standing next to him, completely sad.

"Hey look, I don't want any trouble." "And you won't get any, not from them." The animals started to trudge away off into the distance. "Thanks to you and your hacking and smogging and glupping, they can't live here anymore. So I'm Sending them off. Hopefully they'll be able to find a better place out there somewhere." Once-ler watched them go and felt undeniable guilt. Then he saw something that would forever haunt him. "Melvin?" Melina walked up and stroked Melvin's mane and kissed him on the nose. "Go find a better place Mel." The mule snorted as if to say 'come with me'. Melina sighed. "No Melvin. I'm gonna stay here. But I love you Mel. Go out and be happy for me O.K?" He nodded and kept walking grimly. "Melvin!" Cried Once-ler, the mule snorted and kept moving.

Once-ler then saw pipsqueak trudging off. "Hey pipsqueak." Melina picked him up and he snuggled in her arms. Once-ler held out a marshmallow. "Hey?" Pipsqueak looked up at Melina who kissed him on the head and set him down. She called out, "Melvin!" The mule turned back, "Take care of pipsqueak for me." The mule nodded and pipsqueak sadly walked off as Melina waved goodbye. Once-ler couldn't believe what was happening. The Lorax walked onto a pile of rocks. Once-ler took off his hat in shame and guilt and looked back at The Lorax who lowered his head. He pulled himself up and magically floated away. Melina watched with stars in her eyes. The Lorax disappeared in the clouds and light dimmed. Once-ler lowered his head in sadness and turned to the 'Unless' sign. He walked up to it and felt horrible. What had he done? What had he Become? A monster, that's what. Melina's dream was correct and it was right. You Can't bet the inevitable.

He saw another shadow and turned back to see Melina standing there looking at him, her eyes dim. "Do you want to leave me too? Like everything else? The Thneeds, the fortune, the animals, my family, and even moustache. Or do you STILL care for my worthless, tiny, pathetic, failure of a being?" "Last time I checked," he looked up. What? "I don't care about what you did Once, I still have the ring on my finger, I still Love you. It's not WHAT you do the defines you, it's who you are. My mother taught me that a long time ago before she died, and I didn't truly believe her...until I met you." Once-ler felt happy, and started crying with her. "You're still the man I want to marry," She showed him the beautiful ring. "But how Can you love me? After what I did and how I treated you?" "I don't know but what I do know is that you may not have everything else, but you still have me. And you've got our Whole life to make it up to me."

From that point on, they set to work on building a better house and life for themselves. They cleaned out the entire factory but one day when they were doubling checking his office something terrible happened. They had left Cruiso at home and went ahead. Melina leaned on the railing as Once-ler checked his desk and found a note.

'Oncie,

Bret and Chet play on the railing, made a mess of it. Fix it before you go.

Mom.'

The railing was unstable! Once-ler threw down the letter and began to run to Melina. "Melina! Get away from the railing! Get-" but before he could say anything else, the railing gave way and Melina slipped out of his grasp and plummeted to the ground. "Melina!" Once-ler ran down the stairs. She lay on the ground, not moving. He knelt beside her and cradled her in his arms. He looked to his hands, green was smothered with red. He held onto her tightly and gently, careful to not harm her anymore. "It's O.K, Melina. Everything's gonna be alright." He kept comforting her while she weakly ruffled his hair.

The scent of his flower soothed her and she looked into his eyes. A bright light invaded her sight, drowning out the silhouette of him. She grasped at his suit, worried. "Once..." She muttered out, her insides hurt when she spoke. In fact her whole body ached. "Shh, Shh, Melina. It's going to be alright." She grasped at his collar pulling him closer, until she was at his ear. "I don't want to die." His eyes flashed, "Hey you!" Called a voice, Once-ler turned. A man jumped out of a car and ran up to them. "Oh holy Jupiter!" He exclaimed, his partner came running with a portable body table. "We need you to let go sir," said the man.

"No! I'm not leaving her!" The man grabbed his shoulder, "You won't have to leave her, you can accompany us in the car. We're an ambulance." Once-ler nodded. He got up and helped them haul Melina into the car, she was losing a lot of blood. On the way Once-ler asked, "What are you doing all he way out here, anyway?" "Surveying." The man replied, "Surveying? What do you mean?" "We're checking to make sure that no one is left out here, especially like this, before Thneedville closes up. You see we're closing off the town for good clean air." Once-ler nodded. "Once!" Melina gasped and grasped at his arm. "Please don't leave me. Please Don't Leave Me!" He petted her hand, "I'm not going to leave you Melina, I'll always be right here." She smiled as best she could. "Just rest easy ma'am, we're taking you to a hospital to get fixed up." Once-ler comforted her and turned to the man opposite him, whom he had been talking to while his silent pattern drove the car.

"What's your name, by-the-way?" "Wiggins, Marlin Wiggins. My wife's name is Norma Wiggins, she's probably waiting for me with our daughter at home. Which means I'll have to explain this to her." Once-ler nodded, at least he knew who he was talking to. By the time they got to the hospital, Melina was barely hanging on. They transferred her into a hospital bed and began rolling her away. But the whole time, Once-ler was holding her hand. They came to two double doors, the nurse put a hand over Once-ler telling him he couldn't go beyond that point. Melina grabbed at his hand one final time, before his hand finally left his. He felt a sense of loneliness without her there. He felt something in his closed hand and opened it up.

A seed! The Very Last One! Melina must have picked it up when they were journeying back to double check the office! Once-ler felt glee and slipped it quietly back into his pocket. This is wonderful! Now he and Melina could plant it when she was gets better and make the world beautiful again! And then...they could get married...in the most beautiful place Ever. Once-ler was pulled from his thoughts when two huge bodyguards grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him out of the city and threw him on the ground. He got up and dusted himself off.

"Hey! What's the deal?" He looked up to the stairs, a little man came walking out. "Let me back in!" "No can do. There are rules." Once-ler was confused. "Rules? What rules?!" "My rules. Y'see, I run things now and I got my own rules. And one of them is that no tree huggers OR destroyers are allowed in because I sell fresh air, and anything promoting that will be disposed of. One businessman to another." Once-ler got irritated, "The woman I Love is in there! You can't just keep me out!" The man turned back to him. "Look, I don't care if that's your dying aunt or long lost sister in there, you aren't coming in! This is basically the bigger man telling the tiny failure how it is. But i'm not a completely heartless person, i'll let her be nursed back into health and then make her own choice, stay in or be booted out with you." He and his bodyguards walked out and Once-ler was left staring after them.

He turned and held in a smile, he wasn't worried. She would choose him. She had to. He walked back to their house and fed Cruiso, who happily barked and wagged at his feet. Once-ler smiled, "Don't worry Cruiso, Melina will be back soon. She's just getting fixed up, she took a nasty fall." He happily made dinner for himself since it was getting late. He was joyful that he would see her again. So he waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months...months into Years. And she still didn't return. Once-ler gave as much happiness and care for Cruiso as best he could before the poor boy passed away not long after of old age. Now Once-ler was truly alone. Eventually he became so sad that he gave up on the idea that she would come back. He decided she had either chosen the town over him. But she would never do that...so she must have died.

Basically everyday he shed a tear for her, and ever time he saw his scar drops would never stop falling. "That bad huh?" "Yeah," Once-ler said wiping his eyes, he had told The Lorax everything, there was no stone left un-turned. "Look Bean-pole, I'm sorry. I didn't realise that that had happened." Once-ler cradled the photo of the party in his arms. Sometimes he would do that and fantasise that it was her, it made things a little easier. The only bad part about it was when the fantasy had to end. "But why didn't you tell me this before?mor Ted when he came to see you for the first time?" Once-ler held on tighter to the photo. "Would YOU tell something so painful it makes you cry everyday to someone? Would you tell someone something so painful it makes your heart ache even thinking about it? I didn't tell anyone this because it holds so much pain, and when I was locked away I could never end it...just wait. That's why I didn't want this."

The Lorax felt pity. "Well, I'm sorry Bean-pole. Because this stuff was the last I had and it can't be undone. If you will it, you can't live forever." "An eternity without Joy? Without Love? Without Melina? I can't bear that." He tureen outside. "If you have something of great importance and take care of it you'll have it forever...I didn't take care of my importance." He rifled through the chest and hand The Lorax a news paper. On the cover in bold writing it said, 'THNEED FIANCÉE IN HOSPITAL' below it showed a picture of a girl with long white hair in a hospital bed hooked up to machines. Even though the picture was black and white, you could she was slightly pale. She was beautiful. He looked closely at her left hand and saw part of a beautiful ring. Considering the title of the article he presumed it was a wedding ring.

"This is her?" Once-ler nodded, fighting tears again. The Lorax walked out, leaving Once-ler to grieve. When he went down the stairs and closed the stairway door, he remembered something. The girl that Ted described, it may be Melina it may not. The point was that he needed to see for himself. S when Ted arrived the next day, The Lorax told him he needed to see the 'attacker' and Ted snuck him home. When they were there, The Lorax walked up the stairs and Ted opened the attic door on the ceiling. It was just starting to get dark and it was raining, when he got in the attic he saw someone lit down with their face to the window staring at the pouring rain.

He walked up to them and the floorboards creaked, the persons head shot in his direction. They gasped, "Lorax?" "Hi Melina." She hugged him, "I missed you. How have you been keeping?" She let him go, "Well, how about you?" "Coma. You see when I had fallen off Once-ler's office a little while after you floated away, I was put into a hospital. But there was something I and to tell them that Once-ler didn't know. And what happens after...well, it's scary."

Melina was in the bed being pulled to a hospital room, lights were zipping past on the ceiling. Melina tried to say something, "I'm...I'm...I'm-" she was cut off by the nurse, "Hush dear, it's gonna be fine." "Nurse!" Another one approached the comforting nurse, "It's her test results. She's-" the light drowned out their voices and Melina became unconscious. When she opened her eyes, she said, "Nurse, can you tell Once-" she looked up, the ceiling was different. It was old, slightly grey and cracked. Lights were gone. She was in a hospital room. She held her wedding ring hand and got out to the front of her bed. She found a trunk and changed into the clothes placed in there. She then noticed that the window was blocked up by cement.

The door was stuck too. Getting a kick she heard the lock break and she opened the door. The hospital looked fine, oh she would defiantly be suing the hospital for this. She closed the door and saw a bit of red on it. She stepped back and her eyes widened. 'RESTICTED. No Entry' she felt sick, the had boarded her up. She ran through the hospital to the elevator but caught a passing nurse. "Excuse me ma'am, what's the year? My calendars broken." The nurse laughed, "Well, the year is 2013 miss. I hope you get better calendar." Melina gave a false laugh and nodded. We rushed into the elevator stopped a the lobby and ran out. It was cold and raining, and she was frightened.

"All I could yell out was his name. But something hit me on the head and I woke up under a bed. Considering the time, I shouldn't be this way. I should be old and wrinkly right? Why am I like this, and is Once O.K?" The Lorax nodded, 'I'm to sure how you're still young but...were you...?" "Yeah, I was...Pregnant. I found out before I truly saw the forest. I was going to tell Once but the shock of the trees and nature was all I could think about. This may come as a shock but I forgave Once. Think about it, he had no idea what he was doing. He became consumed, he's only human. But, yeah, I was gonna tell him afte ewe had fixed the new house up. I Remember him coming up with the signs." "Sign'S'?" Melina nodded, "Yeah, on top was 'The Street Of Th eLifted Lorax' after yup and the other one was, 'The Once-ler & Melina'. It was on his office doors and we decided to put it to better use."

She felt her stomach twist, "but I didn't get around to telling Once-ler about it because I fell off the railings. The fall and coma killed the baby." The Lorax felt bad for her. "Well, you may to have a child but you still have Once-ler. He's young again." "What?" She stood up, "I gave him some thing that regenerated his youth." A smile emerged on her face. "Well, what are we waiting for? Have a husband to see!" Ted heard her as she wished past. "Husband? Once-ler?" The Lorax nodded, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to arrange."

As they walked closer and closer Melina started fiddling with her hair. "Do I look alright?" "Yeah, Melina. You look fine now wait here, I'll go get him." She hid behind the sign. "Wait. What happened to the other one?" The Lorax shrugged. "I think he took it down. Now don't make a sound." She nodded. The Lorax went up to Once-ler's room. "Oh beanpole?" "Leave me alone moustache." "But I got a surprise for you." Once-ler came out, "Fine, if it'll get you to leave me be." The Lorax blindfolded Once-ler and guided him out side by 'Unless'. He took the blindfold off and Melina stepped out. Once-ler lit up. "Is this a trick...or dream?" She cupped his face, "No Once, THIS isn't a dream." She kissed him. He embraced her. "Oh Melina! You're O.K!" Tears started streaming down his face. "Yes, yes I'm fine. But I have something to tell you." He let go of her and they sat on 'Unless'.

"When I was in hospital I was in a coma, but it killed us." Once-ler was confused. "Us? But we're right here." "No," she took his right hand and placed it on her stomach. "US." He felt shock. "You were pregnant? She nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, I was going to tell you when we got this place fixed up. That's why I wanted those booby traps installed." She turned to the inside of 'Unless'. "Is this where you buried him? Cruiso?" Once-ler nodded, "He was a good boy, my Cruiso, I'm glad he spent his last days with you." She kissed him on the cheek which made him blush. The Lorax watche she scene and said, "Melina, I have something for you. Call it a welcome back present." He turned around and turned back with a big glowing ball. He handed it to her. "What's this?" "It's 'Immortal Magic' what's left of it anyway.

Melina smiled, "Thank you." He nodded, she turned back to Once-ler. "I want to share this with you." "What?" He was caught off-guard. "Your my who,e World Once, I don't want to see you go." She pulled the ball apart into two separate ones. "Hey!" They turned, that little man who had denied access to Once-ler stood there with a gun. "You and your stupid nature to my town! And now I'm taking you." He pointed the gun at Once-ler and he and Melina stood up. "You can't jut kill him!" Cried Melina. "Watch me." A gun erupted and the ball was gone. Once-ler at his chest, it was glowing. He looked down at Melina's, Red.

"What? No, NO! I can't lose you again!" He cradled her like last time. "You won't lose me Once. I'll always be here." She placed a hand on his heart. "This is unfair." He whimpered. "No it's not. Because I get to be near you. Forever." She grasped at his suit. "I thought you said you were gonna get rid of that." She smiled and disintegrated into dust and flowed into Once-ler's heart. He could feel her inside him. They spoke in-sync. "Forever and for always." He began crying. The little man had run off out of fear. So he was alone with The Lorax to comfort him.

"It's not WHAT you do that defines you, it's who you are. My mother taught me that a long time ago before she died, and I didn't truly believe her until I found the only person I could ever love. You see, love, TRUE Love, is powerful. Powerful enough that you're willing to sacrifice yourself for that person. Even if they do something unforgivable by others, you'll Always forgive them. I never thought I could feel so complete with him, so strong when he's near and so weak when he's not. Looking back on my life now, especially my life with him after I became mortal; all the things I've done, all the things I've said, all the things I could've stopped from happening, all the instincts I betrayed for him...I don't regret any of it. The only thing I need in my life from him is to hold me when I'm down and lift me higher with him when I'm up. I don't care what he's done, The only thing that matters is his love. I will always love him, until the end of my days, even if that will be soon. I want to be close to him until the curtains close...I love you Once. I always have and I always will. Goodbye...my love."

I'm so sorry I killed you Melina. I almost kinda cried when writing his chap. Sorry for the sad titanic ending, but I don't really feel the story ends yet. I'm thinking about doing an alternate version. I've got a few ideas in mind but if you guys could post some ideas I promise to try and include them and make the next story, (If there is one) less dramatic and sad. Well, peace out, love y'all, say-what-you-think, and Rock On.


End file.
